The Portion of the High-School Program That May Advantageously Be Given to Vocational Work

Abstract

In the development of the more recent practical ideas of education, no other phase of thought has appealed more strongly to the popular mind than vocational education. As the popularity of this work has grown and as project methods have been developed in connection with the practical side, there has been a growing tendency to increase the proportion of time devoted to the vocational program with corresponding decrease of the general or academic studies. In most high schools offering manual training, domestic science, or commercial courses, two-year curricula were first organized, providing two units of credit out of sixteen for graduation. Special agricultural courses were introduced into high schools calling for approximately one-fourth of the pupils' time. Many of the other special courses were also extended to four units. As home and school projects in agriculture came to receive larger attention, the tendency to extend the time devoted to this side of the work became very common. In order to have the projects properly cared for throughout the season for growing crops, the work was extended not only through the school year but also through the summer season. This led to an extension of the requirement for graduation in this curriculum to eighteen units instead of sixteen, counting the projects as a distinct part of the work for which definite credit should be given. With the coming of the Smith-Hughes program, the Federal Board for Vocational Education has gone still farther by asking that approximately 50 per cent of the pupils' time be devoted to the special agricultural work. Furthermore, along the other vocational lines, in the effort to strengthen the efficiency of the practical