AIMS AND WORK OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION1 CLEO MURTLAND Secretary in Charge of Women's Work RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Thousands of children leave the schools each year without having completed the elementary school course which has practically become a minimum requirement for intelligent citizenship and a successful vocational career. Much as society believes in elementary education and secondary education as preparation for life, it is face to face with the fact that although both are provided, only 50 per cent of our young people complete the elementary school course and 10 per cent the high school course. There is reason to believe that a large proportion of these children can be reached effectively by a type of vocational education which combines practical intensive work in industrial subjects with instruction in related and general academic subjects. It is also believed that such training and instruction will not only tend to make the education of these young people more effective, but that it will increase the number of years of schooling before employment and gradually bring about part-time courses after employment and thus greatly increase the learning period in the individual's life. Under the present régime too many young people go to work unprepared to meet the demands of industrial and commercial life and as a result fail to become successful wage earners and intelligent citizens. They have lost their interest in study; they do not know how to think out their problems and so have neither interest in the school which might help them, nor sufficient intelligence to advance in their chosen vocations. The National Society believes in the established vocational education for the professions, for commercial pursuits, and in the high school courses which fit those who qualify for the college course. It believes in general education for all children. It believes that a stronger vocational element is needed in general education than it has at the present time. It believes in instruction in homemaking subjects for all girls 1 Written for the Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Home Economics Association, Seattle, 1915. 2 Laggards in Our Schools by Leonard P. Ayres, New York City: The Survey Associates, as part of their general education. It also believes that the vocational school organized and administered for the purpose of preparing young people for a useful occupation, is not worth the name if it fails to include as a part of the course a considerable amount of general education and general courses in the household arts that will assist in the work of the home. The largest interest of the National Society is concerned, however, with the vocational education which fits boys and girls for profitable employment, an important part of preparation for life which approximately 50 per cent of the young people are not receiving under present conditions. To this end the work of the Society is directed. The National Society does not believe that choice of occupation should be forced upon young children of fourteen years of age; nor does it believe that vocational education should take the place of general education, but it does believe that vocational education should supplement general education and should be begun at the time when interest in work and wages is beginning to supplant interest in the general courses. The age at which specific vocational training should begin varies, therefore, according to the demands of the pupils and the community in which they live. Preparation for a vocation undoubtedly helps to guard against exploitation (for it is the untrained, unintelligent worker who is exploited), and furthermore, it is the best means for safeguarding the young worker from being tied to one job for life-the one job which gives no desire for successful work or opportunity to rise above the entrance level. The vocational courses for these children, to be real, should cover as many lines of vocational work as the community affords and should be planned to meet the needs of the community, its industries, shops, factories and stores. Hence the National Society believes that vocational education is largely a local problem and that surveys and studies of local industries, shops and stores are essential to successful vocational courses. Too much education is aimed toward the president's chair and too little toward the problems near at hand. Vocational education that enables boys and girls to succeed in their own community may safely be trusted to give them the start in life they are entitled to, and to insure intelligent citizenship and desirable advancement as experience and opportunity make it possible. Nothing short of a fair start in life for girls as well as boys, makes for the democratic education which this nation stands for. WHAT THE SOCIETY HAS DONE TO FURTHER VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 1. Coöperation among the industries, organized labor and educational bodies for the purpose of bringing together for concerted work all those interested directly and indirectly in Vocational Education has been a very important part of the work of the Society. 2. Conferences of superintendents, supervisors, state administrators, teachers, and others have been held periodically for the purpose of establishing standards for vocational education. 3. Constructive work has been done in methods for training tradesmen and tradeswomen for teaching positions in the schools through classes for men at Pratt Institute and classes for women in Indianapolis. 4. Its bulletin for short-unit courses published by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is being used as a basis for part-time and night courses. 5. Much assistance has been given to State Agents for Vocational Education in organizing and administering vocational schools. 6. The National Society believing that a survey of the schools and of industry should be made before the establishment of vocational schools, has made two such surveys, one in Richmond, Virginia, and one in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It has also made studies of specific industries in several cities for the same purpose. 7. Legislation for vocational education has been written by the Society and its policies regarding the types of schools, courses of study, and methods of teaching are being adopted by many states and local communities. 8. Propaganda for vocational education that will fit young people for profitable employment through lectures, conferences and publications has been an important part of the work of the Society. 9. The Society has added very materially to the literature on vocational education through bulletins published by the Society, by the United States Bureau of Education, the United States Bureau of Labor, and reprints of magazine articles on vocational education. It has also distributed widely state bulletins and other printed matter bearing on vocational education. WHAT THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S WORK HAS DONE The Committee on Women's Work has for the past two years been working in close coöperation with the Secretary, Dr. C. A. Prosser, the Board of Managers and the Executive Committee of the Society, for it is the very strong desire of the women engaged in the vocational education movement to keep the work for boys and girls one strong unit. The Society has used its influence toward the establishment of vocational day schools which will prepare for useful occupations but the vision for all phases of vocational education far exceeds what young people may be able to learn before they take up their work. It looks forward to part-time education after going to work-a return to the school from time to time for short courses in vocational and general school subjects which will keep alive interest in study and reading and make success possible. Coöperation of the school, the home, and the business world which is being brought about will do much to make parttime training practicable and effective. The Secretary in Charge of Women's Work has made studies, in a number of cities, of industries employing women. In Philadelphia, a general study of the need for a vocational school for girls was made and report was made to the Board of Education in December, 1914. There is hope that under the new law in Pennsylvania, which makes school attendance to sixteen years compulsory, a vocational school for girls will be established in that city. A study of the dress and waist industry with a plan for a part-time factory school for workers in the industry was made in the spring of 1914 and published by the U. S. Bureau of Labor. A brief study of a few phases of the garment trades of Boston for the Advisory Committee of the Boston Trade School for Girls was made in February, 1915. A study of the garment trades of Cincinnati in coöperation with the Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Education was made during the early summer of 1915. Cincinnati opened its vocational school for girls in September. For the Richmond Survey, the tobacco industry and the department stores were studied and recommendations regarding the training of workers were made. Six trade studies were made in Minneapolis, department stores, dressmaking and millinery establishments, knitting mills, garment industries, laundries and home making. The purpose of these surveys and studies of specific industries is to determine the kind and amount of general education and vocational training that may be given to prospective workers before they become wage earners, and to what extent education and training may be continued after they have become wage earners. Studying an industry does not mean necessarily that a course of study and scheme of training workers may be set up. There is a growing need for studies which give information about many of the so-called unskilled industries in which women are employed as well as those demanding skill of the workers. The chief contribution of the study of the tobacco industry was ascertaining that there is no teachable content which the school could or should undertake to teach. Thus some of the studies give negative reports; others give much that is new and constructive and a better understanding of industry and its demands upon workers is gradually being brought about. The National Society recognizes the fact that many of the trades, such as dressmaking, millinery, laundry work, waitress work, cafeteria and tea room work have grown out of the occupations of the home and, therefore, concern the American Home Economics Association as well as the National Society; the former in their relation to making a better home; the latter in their relation to profitable employment. Thus, an unavoidable overlapping of interests exists. Reports for Troy, N. Y., Philadelphia, Richmond and Minneapolis have all touched upon Home Economics to some extent. In making studies and surveys such as those referred to, when the question of the homemaker and the employed worker in the homes arises, the committee prefers to deal with this in coöperation with women engaged in the Home Economics field. Thus, in Minneapolis the department of Home Economics of the University of Minnesota, and the Home Economics Department of the Women's Clubs had immediate charge of that part of the survey under the direction of the general Survey Committee. FUTURE PLANS Studies and surveys of women's work will doubtless continue for some time. More information about the woman wage-earner and the demands that work makes upon her is urgently needed and more comprehensive knowledge about the work of the woman in the home is also needed. The National Society is desirous of having these studies and surveys regarding the women's work reach out into as many occupations for women as possible. The National Society is deeply interested in the training of teachers for vocational schools. It believes that professionally trained teachers |