(13) There has been a notable increase during the past two years in both the volume and the quality of textbooks and reference material in practically the entire field of vocational education. A number of special activities during the war period had the effect of stimulating immensely the production of this material.

(14) Some indication of the development of industrial education in the United States during the past few years may be observed by comparing the "Directory of Vocational Education" issued by the Bureau of Education in 1914 with that issued in 1918. The former was a leaflet consisting of 6 pages of names and addresses; the latter contains 29 pages and a supplement. Obviously this comparison does not give a direct measure of the progress in vocational education, since the published lists of both dates are known to be incomplete. Nevertheless, certain facts are quite suggestive.

In 1914 a systematic attempt was made to compile a complete list of "Schools in which trades are taught." This designation was used in preference to "trade schools," for the reason that a considerable number of schools which are not properly classed as trade schools maintain departments or classes in which real trade instruction is given. The list as published is accompanied by the following note:

In the above list are included schools offering one or more courses which prepare students for the mechanical trades and industries, by teaching the technic of the occupation in whole or in part, with the expectation that the training given in such course shall serve to shorten the usual period of learning or apprenticeship in the occupation.

The number of schools listed on the basis of the returns from a widely distributed questionnaire was 86, located in 19 States.

A similar inquiry made in 1918 resulted in the listing of 285 schools, located in 40 States. Recognizing the difficulty of defining a trade school or a trade class in such terms as will yield figures giving an accurate account of the progress taking place in this important field, the 1918 inquiry was accompanied by the following

note:

It is intended to include in this list those schools, public and private, which offer one or more day courses which prepare students, male or female, for the mechanical trades and industries, by teaching the technic of the occupation in whole or in part, with the expectation that the training given in such course shall serve to shorten the usual period of learning or apprenticeship in the occupation.

This expectation should be justified by the provision of conditions which look definitely toward this end, and should include at least the following: (a) The students should spend not less than 10 hours (60 minutes each) per week in the practical shopwork or other technical processes of the occupation; and (b) the instructor should have had practical experience as a wageearner in the occupation for which he is giving instruction.

In 1918 also, for the first time, an attempt was made to compile a complete list of "Trade continuation schools." Of these, 144 are

listed, located in 29 States. The inquiry was accompanied by the following note:

It is intended to include in this list those schools, public and private, which offer one or more courses, day or evening, for the benefit of students, male or female, who seek, by means of these courses, to prepare themselves for useful employment or for promotion in their present employment, including schools offering cooperative or part-time classes, in which employed persons attend school a certain number of hours per week during working hours, or alternate between school and employment.

The 1918 directory also includes a list of State officials having charge of the administration of vocational education in the several States. The number of persons listed in this section is 157, representing all of the 48 States, as well as the outlying possessions of the United States. With the exception of perhaps a score of positions in six or eight States, this entire official personnel has come into existence during the past four years. The same statement is true also of the official staff of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, now numbering upwards of 500 individuals.

THE FEDERAL BOARD FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

The Smith-Hughes Act was signed by President Wilson on the afternoon of Friday, February 23, 1917, while the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, to whose efforts this legislation is largely due, was holding its tenth annual convention in Indianapolis. The appointive members of the board were nominated by the President on June 29 of the same year, and confirmed by the Senate on July 17. The first meeting of the board was held on Saturday, July 21, in the office of the Secretary of Agriculture in Washington.

Under the Smith-Hughes Act Federal appropriations ultimately aggregating over $7,000,000 per annum have been made available for cooperation with the States in the promotion of vocational education in agriculture, in trades and industries, and home economics, including the preparation of teachers. The principle of Federal aid through the States to education in institutions of subcollegiate grade has been established.

Its early enactment was strongly urged by President Wilson in addressing Congress in December, 1916, as

of vital importance to the whole country because it concerns a matter too long neglected, upon which the thorough industrial preparation of the country for the critical years of economic development immediately ahead of us in very large measure depends. * * It contains plans which affect all interests and all parts of the country, and I am sure that there is no legislation now pending before the Congress whose passage the country awaits with more thoughtful approval or greater impatience to see a great and admirable thing set in the way of being done.

NEW EDUCATIONAL POLICIES.

As an expression of educational policy, the new act embodies some important departures from previous legislation. It makes provision for the training within the schools of a large group of our population unreached directly by the Federal Government. On the other hand, by offering instruction along vocational lines and of subcollegiate grade, it supplements the Morrill Act, the expressed purpose of which is to maintain colleges "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts In

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order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." On the other hand, since it contemplates a system of training in the schools, it also supplements the Agricultural Extension Act of 1914, in which the service provided is "the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending or resident in State colleges in the several communities." Since it imposes definite requirements as to the training of teachers, it also represents a material extension of authority over the purely permissive provisions of the Nelson amendment of 1907.

The Smith-Hughes Act creates a Federal Board for Vocational Education. This board consists of seven members, including the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, and the United States Commissioner of Education, ex officio, with three members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, ultimately for a term of three years each. One of the appointed members is a representative of the manufacturing and commercial interests, one of the agricultural interests, and the third of those of labor. The board selects its own chairman each year.

The Federal board is charged with the administration of the act, the details as to the care of funds, the certifying of the States, etc., in general plan resembling the legislation for the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. In addition it is empowered to make, or have made, investigations and reports to aid the States in the establishment of vocational schools and classes and in giving instruction in agriculture, and the trades and industries, commerce and commercial pursuits, and home economics. These studies include agriculture and agricultural processes and the requirements upon agricultural workers, similar studies as regards the trades, industries, and commerce, home management, domestic science, and the study of related problems, and the principles and problems of administration of vocation schools and of courses of study and instruction in Vocational subjects. In the discretion of the board, the studies concerning agriculture may be made in cooperation with or through the Department of Agriculture. Similar cooperative arrangements may

be made with the Departments of Labor and Commerce for industrial subjects, while the studies of the administration of vocational schools, curricula, and methods of instruction in vocational subjects may be taken up in cooperation with or through the Bureau of Education. An appropriation of $200,000 per annum, available from the date of passage of the act, is made to the board for its expenses.

STATE BOARDS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

To cooperate with the Federal board in carrying out the act, each State when accepting its provisions is to designate a State board of at least three members. The State board of education or some board having charge of the administration of public education or of any kind of vocational education may be designated as the State board, or an entirely new board may be created. Of the 48 States, 35 have designated the State board of education or the State department of public instruction; 11 have designated a State board for vocational education or industrial education; 1 a State board of agriculture; and 1 a State high school board.

The State board is to prepare plans for the approval of the Federal board, showing the details of the work for which it is expected to use the appropriations. These plans it is specified must show the kinds of vocational education contemplated, the kinds of schools and equipment, courses of study, methods of instruction, and the qualifications and the plans for the training of the teachers and agricultural supervisors. In all cases the work must be conducted under public supervision and control.

The plans of expenditures for salaries in agricultural and industrial subjects must show that the controlling purpose of the education is to fit for useful employment, that the training is of less than college grade, and that it is designed to meet the needs of persons over 14 years of age who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon agricultural or industrial work.

The Federal appropriations to the States are divided into three distinct groups, providing, respectively, for the payment of salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects; for the payment of salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial subjects; for the preparing of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects, and of teachers of trade and industrial and home economics subjects.

The main initial appropriation for salaries in agricultural subjects is $500,000. This is increased by $250,000 per annum during the next six years and then by $500,000 per annum during the next two years, making an appropriation of $3,000,000 for the fiscal year 1926 and annually thereafter. Like appropriations are made for salaries in industrial subjects.

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The main appropriation for preparing teachers and supervisors is likewise $500,000 for the first year, but increases to $700,000 and $900,000, respectively, for the next two years, and then becomes $1,000,000 per annum thereafter. The Federal appropriations for teacher training must be divided among agricultural, trade and industrial, and home economics subjects, no one of these subjects being granted more than 60 nor less than 20 per cent of the State's allotment for any year.

The training of the teachers provided for will throw a very heavy burden of responsibility on our higher technical institutions and particularly the land-grant colleges. These institutions have been very successful in training technical experts who have contributed in large measure to the success of our industries. They have not as yet paid any large attention to the training of teachers for secondary schools of the strictly vocational type. The pedagogy of this class of education is yet in its preliminary stages. It evidently will not do simply to copy what has been worked out abroad. There is therefore great incentive for men of original thought and inventive skill to enter this comparatively new field of teacher training.

ACTION BY THE STATES.

Up to January 1, 1918, 48 States accepted the Smith-Hughes Act either by specific provisions of the legislatures or by acts of the governors and by that date the plans of the 48 States had been examined by the Federal Board for Vocational Education, approved, and the board had certified to the Secretary of the Treasury that these States were entitled to receive the allotments for the year 1917–18, apportioned by the terms of the act.

Federally aided vocational courses have been set up in agriculture in 41 States, in trade and industrial subjects in 32 States, and in home economics in 29 States; 22 States have organized courses in each of these three fields; in 46 States teacher-training courses have been organized.

The record of the States in this work is impressive, especially when it is borne in mind that the record covers an initial period of only 10 months. In Massachusetts, for example, vocational agriculture is taught in 19 secondary schools with Federal aid: trade and industrial subjects, in 36 schools; and home economics, in 29 schools. In New York the number of Federal-aided secondary schools is 4, of agriculture, 60, and for trades and industries, 40; in Pennsylvania, for agriculture, 38; for trades and industries, 131; and for home economics, 69; in California, for agriculture, 12, for trades and industries, 14, and for home economics, 14; in Indiana, for agriculture, 37, and for trades and industries, 21; in Mississippi, for agriculture,