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A study of the attitudes of high school teachers of vocational subjects toward vocational education and its social values

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A study of the attitudes of high school teachers of vocational subjects toward vocational education and its social values

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Content Â STUDY OP THE ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS OF
VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS TOWARD VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
AND ITS SOCIAL VALUES
A Thesis
Presented -to
the Faculty of the Department of Sociology
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
by
Anna Adelson Klepak
August 1940
UMI Number: EP65620
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UMI EP65620
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This thesis, written by
m m . AD2L80rL.KLEPM^^.............
under the direction of h.BT. Faculty Committee,
and appro ved by a ll its m embers, has been
presented to and accepted by the Council on
Graduate Study and Research in partial fu lfill
ment of the requirem ents f o r the degree of
MASTER OP ARTS
D ean
Secretari
D a te August..1940.
Faculty Committee
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM, METHOD USED, AND
MEANINGS OF TERMS , , .............. . , . . . 1
The problem.............. ........... .. . . . . 1
Method used........................... 2
Meanings of terms .............................. 3
Vocation............ 3
Definition of attitude ..................... 4
Definition of vocation .................. 7
Definition of value .. . .. . . . . . . . . 7
II. HISTORY OF THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION MOVEMENT . . 9
The United States......................... . 9
Early history....................... 9
Need for vocational education ............. 9
Beginnings of vocational guidance ..... 10
Increase of guidance programs due to
depression ..................... ..... 11
Progress made in the last twenty years . . . 12
The Smith-Hughes A c t ............ 13
The industrial arts movement.... 16
History of commercial arts movement .... 17
Europe . ............ 19
Germany ....................... 19
England and Scotland .................. . . 20
ill
CHAPTER PAGE
France.............................. 21
Belgium............................ 22^
Poland........................... .......... 22
Greece................... ................... 23
Soviet R u ssia....................... . . 23
Other Civilized Countries ................... 24
I n d i a ...................................... 24
Australia.................................. 25
J a p a n ............................... 25
China ....................................... 26
III. PURPOSES OF TEACHING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
COURSES: 27
Satisfaction of human wants....................... 27
Advisement and guidance ......................... 28
Definitions of four fields of study .... 29
Basic purposes of vocational education courses 30
Social values ..................... 31
Prepare youths to be useful citizens . . . 31
Work of the CCC c a m p s......... 31
Teach appreciation of one* s ®wn capacities
and abilities . ............. 33
Inculcate definite ideals of citizenship . 33
Develop desirable social attitudes .... 34
Develop vocationally adjusted individuals 35
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
Practical values ............................ 37
Vocational guidance must be constructive • 37
More attention must be given to business
training ............................. 38
Relationship of vocational training to
community needs ........... 39
The place of vocational education courses in
the curriculum....................... 42
Schools meet a definite need ........ 42
All-day school programs ................... 42
Cooperative type programs............ 43
Part-time and evening classes ............. 43
IV. SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
COURSES ........ 44
The American family.......................... 44
Changes in the role of the family ...... 46
Cultural life ............ 47
Adolescent youth ..... ................... 49
Unemployment situation ....................... 56
PPesent economic structure of society .... 58
V. ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS'VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION IN FOUR SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS . . . 6l
Introduction .................................. 6l
Frank Wiggins Trade School................... 62
V
CHAPTER PAGE
Enrollment...................................... 62 _
Need in the community ............. . 62
Teachers of food trades . . . . . . . 63
■ Cosmetology teachers ........ • 63
Teachers of commercial radio, printing, and
building trades . ......................... 64
Auto and metal trades teachers................. 66
Teachers of commercial and industrial arts
and lettering............................. 67
Belmont High Sôhool........................... 68
Enrollment...................................... 68
The questionnaire on teacher attitudes . . . 69
Responses to the questionnaire ............. 71
The commercial arts department............. 72
Teachers of shop-work..................... 74
Summary of teacher attitudes in Belmont High
School . ........ .. .................... 74-:
Manual Arts High School..................... 75
Enrollment............................ 75
Methods of research....................... 75
Home economics department ......... 76
Commercial arts department ................. 77
Shop-work department ..................... • 81
Fremont High School.......................... 85
Enrollment.................................. 85
vi
CHAPTER PACE
Type of school........................ 85.
Commercial arts department ..................... 86
Smith-Hughes vocational Industrial curriculum
industrial arts classes . . . . . . . 87
Vocational classes in shop-work.........• . 88
Summary of attitudes of high school teachers as
revealed in four different high schools . . 89
Points of similarity . ....................... 89
Points of difference ........................... 90
VI. SIGNIFICANT TRENDS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION . . . 91
Present trends ............................. 91
Preparation for Jobs.................. 91
Youth problem......................... 91
Problems of guidance................... 92
Counselling programs ................... 92
Vocational efficiency ......................... 93
Character and personality adjustment .... 94
Trends in business and professions ............ 94
Importance of specialized training ............ 95
Occupational and social needs ................. 97
Population trends .... 97
Future trends ............................. 98
Future trends in light of present-day
forecasts . . 98
vil
CHAPTER PAGE
Future trends as indicated by New York
Board of Education............. . . . . 99
Comparison of present and future trends . . 100
VII. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 101
Summary of findings ................. 101
Conclusions ...... .......... ..... 104
General attitudes of vocational education
teachers............ 105
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 108
CHAPTER I
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM,
METHOD USED, AND MEANINGS OF TERMS
I. THE PROBLEM
Vocational education has existed since the beginning
of human life. The problem of vocational education is an
important one since "social progress depends, in a large
measure, upon the progress of the vocations
The problem of the choice of the right vocation is as
old as humanity itself. ”One*s job," to quote the Lynds, "is
the watershed down which the rest of one * s life tends to flow
Changes in industrial, economic, and social conditions
which have taken place in recent years create a demand for a
type of education which is radically different from earlier
periods. The youth problem today challenges our leading
educators and sociologists.
Literature in this field reveals that much has been
written regarding the significance of vocational education,
the problem of vocational guidance, and the choice of the
right vocation. Innumerable studies have been made in this
rapidly growing field, but no studies have been found revealing
1 Arthur E. Mays, to Introduction to Vocational Education
(New York: The Century Company, 1930), p. 11.
^ Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd, Middletown in Transition
(New York : Hareourt, Brace and Company, 1934), p. 7*
the attitudes of high school teachers toward vocational
education and its social values.
II . METHOD USED
It has, therefore, been the task of the writer to
attempt to find out the attitudes of high school teachers
toward vocational education. , In order to get at the true
attitudes of teachers, it has been necessary to see them per
sonally to get the best results. The method used has been,
for the most part, that of the personal interview. To supple
ment this plan, the questionnaire method has been employed.
Before interviewing any teachers a written letter of introduc
tion was obtained from the Board of Education granting per
mission to hold these interviews.
The scope of this study was limited to four high schools
as representing four different types of communities. The
following questions presented themselves to the writer at the
beginning of the interviews:
1. Do high school teachers have definite attitudes toward
vocational education?
2. Would a study of attitudes be of significant importance in
light of present-day tendencies advocating the need of
practical education?
3* Are high school teachers in favor of vocational education?
4. What are the main purposes of vocational education?
3
These questions have been used in all four schools as
a beginning inquiry in an effort to obtain the attitudes of
high school teachers. As the study has progressed, further
questions have arisen which the author has tabulated in the
form of a questionnaire in order to insure relative uniform
ity as far as possible in obtaining data. The full question
naire may be found in Chapter V of this thesis. This question
naire was used by the writer in two ways: (1) as a guide to
the personal interviews and (2) as a questionnaire which was
sent out to several high school teachers,
III . MEANINGS OP TERMS
Vocation. The meaning attached to the word "vocation"
is of great significance in defining the problem of vocational
education. If by vocation is meant the directing of a person’s
life activities so as to make them significant to him and use
ful to his fellows, it is necessary to regard all one’s educa
tion as vocational education. But if the narrower meaning of
"chief means of making a livelihood" is attached to the word,
vocational education becomes a very specific phase of one’s
education. The influence over a person's life of his "calling"
is great and almost every phase of his existence is colored
by his economic occupation. Vocations are found to be both
selective and educative because of their demands upon the
powers of those practicing them. They are difficult to class-
4
ify and are continually multiplying and changing their
forms. The result of such changes, and of the consequent
complexity of occupational life, is to make choosing and pre
paring for a vocational career two of the major difficulties
confronting modern youth. The pressure of competition and
speed in economic life have forced the schools ito assume the
burden of aiding youth in their choice of occupations and of
affording opportunity for preparation to participate in the
vocation chosen.
Definition of attitude. An attitude is the end product
of a series of particular events occurring in a definite order.
The concept of social attitudes came into general acceptance
in response to a search for release from a sterile absolutism.
The quest for the innate and universal tendencies went on for
many years as an attempt to discover the exact list of the
human instinctsIn 1890 James wrote that nothing was ccom-
moner among psychologists than the assertion that human life
is governed by reason while the lower animals are controlled
by-instincts.
At first, the attitude represented chiefly an insistence
on the dynamic and moving aspect of all experience in contrast
to "the states of consciousness" of traditional psychology.
3
Bernard J. Breslaw, "The Development of a Socio-
Economic Attitude," Archives of Psychology, 1938. No. 2, p. 96*
5
To J. M. Williams social psychology was the science of atti
tudes, and in his work. Our Rural Heritage,^ he gives an
account of the attitudes of the New York farmer, deriving them
from the social experiences and showing how changing condi
tions in the second period of farm life brought about new
attitudes. Social attitudes^ became the counterpart, in indi
vidual equipment, of the richly varied customs of the people
of the world--differing as customs differ from land to land,
and changing as the mores change from age to age.
Attitudes seemed to Znaniecki too static a term and he
preferred to call them "tendencies". Graham Wallas suggested
that we compromise on the word "dispositions", and Dewey pre
ferred to call them "habits". If, then, thinking denotatively,
we inquire into the nature of an attitude, it appears that it
is "an acquired predisposition to ways or modes of response,
not to particular acts except as under special conditions
these express a way of behaving"
Since the subject of this thesis is "the attitudes of
high school teachers of vocational subjects toward vocational
education", an attempt shall be made to determine the reasons
for their behavior due to the fact that they have specialized
^ James Mickel Williams, Our Rural Heritage (New York ;
A. A. Knopf, 1925)
5 Ellsworth Paris in Kimball Young, Social Attitudes
(New York : Henry Holt and Company, 1931), Chapter I, p. 3*
^ John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct (New York : Henry
Holt and Company, 1922), p. 42.
6
in vocational education.
An attitude is "an acquired, established tendency to
act".? Attitudes are causally related to action. For every
attitude we have a value. From the psychological standpoint
attitudes are subjective, values are objective. An attitude
toward a number of people is a social attitude. Attitudes
may be favorable or unfavorable. "When a person is in a given
occupation for a number of years and achieves success from the
standpoint of recognition, he develops a set of attitudes and
values characteristic of that given occupation. In addition,
these attitudes tend to color his whole philosophy of life."^
In other words, he evaluates other people’s activities and
achievements in values that he has worked out for a number of
years. An occupation is something which has characteristics
of Its own— something one is occupied with consistently as a
means of earning a living. The conceptions which men form of
themselves seem to depend on their vocations, and in general
upon the role that they seek to play in the communities and
social groups in which they live, as well as the recognition
and status which society accords them in these roles.
^ E. S. Bogardus, "Personality and Occupational Atti
tudes," Sociology and Social Research, 12:73-79, September, 1927
o
E. S. Bogardus, lecture notes, course in "Occupational
Attitudes and Values," The University of Southern California.
7
Definition of vocation. The dictionary definition
of vocation is one of denoting one’s regular calling or pro
fession. In defining vocational guidance, the National Voca
tional Guidance Association states, "Vocational guidance is
the process of assisting the individual to choose an occupation,
prepare for it, enter upon.it, and progress in it
This study has been limited to the study of a few selected
vocational subjects that are taught in four selected high
schools of Los Angeles. Readings in this field have revealed
that vocational education concerns itself with the "proper
counselling of young people to the end that they may enter the
vocation for which they are best fitted"
Definition of value. Thomas says that "anything capable
of being appreciated (wished for) is a value". Sellars in
Bougie’s Evolution of Values says, "A value is a permanent
possibility of satisfactions."^1 Economists discuss value.
They talk of the value of the dollar, the mark, the franc.
The Latin root, valere, means "to be strong, to have worth".
The term value was originally applied to activities other than
those of buying and selling, "it has had to do with giving.
9 National Vocational Guidance Association, Principles
and Practice of Vocational Guidance, 1920 revision.
Edward K. Strong, "Aptitudes Versus Attitudes,"
Journal of Applied Psychology, 18:561, August , 1954.
Roy Sellars, introduction to Gelestin 0. Bbugle.
Evolution of Values,translated by Helen S. Sëllars (New York;
Henry Holt and Oompany, 1926)
8
that iSÿ with an attitude toward life."^^
The writer has considered it of significant importance
to conduct an intensive piece of research which will be dis
cussed later. In order to understand the entire problem as
presented, the writer has devoted Chapter II to the history of
the vocational education movement.
12
Frederick E. Lumley, Principles of Sdciology
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1958), p. 511.
CHAPTER II
HISTORY OF THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION MOVEMENT
I. THE UNITED STATES
Early History
Need for vocational education. The need for vocational
education has always been felt by civilized peoples. In
practically every generation somebody has emphasized its *
significance. About four hundred years before Christ, Plato
asked, "When is a man likely to succeed best? When he divides
his exertions among many trades, or when he devotes himself
exclusively to one?" The answer is, "When he devotes himself
exclusively to one." Hence, when a man occupies himself with
one trade he is engaged in a very definite occupation which
is the most accepted form of earning a living.
As early as 1795» McKenzie made the challenge that the
education of youth was being wasted because his talents were
not used to the best possible advantage.
Federal interest in vocational education began as early
as 1862 when the Morrill Act was passed by which large blocks
of public land were allocated to each state for the support of
colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. Federal support
for the land-grant colleges has continued in the form of annual
appropriations and has been increased from time to time. In
addition to the funds for supporting the instructional program.
10
federal appropriations have been provided for agricultural
experiment stations and for agricultural extension service on
a cooperative basis. In 1881, Richards proposed a plan by
which to bring order out of chance and chaos and to form or
establish a system to enable a person to find the most fitting
pursuit in which he can reap the greatest success that it is
possible to achieve.
Beginnings of vocational guidance. Brewer contends that
it is as difficult to trace the beginnings of vocational guid
ance as it is to trace the discovery of steam. Professor Frank
Parsons is called the founder of the vocational guidance move
ment because it was he who began the work which has led to the
present spread of interest. Professor Parsons insisted that
no step in life, unless it might be the choice of a husband or
wife, is more important than the choice of a vocation.
Professor Parsons began his counselling in the Civic
Service House in Boston in 1901. It was at this institution
on April 23, 1908, that the Boston Vocation Bureau was founded.
After Parson’s death in 1909, Meyer Bloomfield became its
director. The Boston Vocation Bureau has done a very important
work and its reputation has spread not only throughout our own
country but also to other parts of the world. As an outgrowth
1
John M* Brewer, The Vocational Guldance Movement
(New York: Macmillan Company, 1923), P• 20.
11
of this bureau, the first National Conference on Vocational
Guidance was held in Boston in 1910 in cooperation with the
Boston Chamber of CommerceThe first college course given
in this subject was that of the Harvard University Summer
School in 1911 by the Vocation Bureau.
The Grand Rapids plan of vocational education first
started in the schoolroom and then was extended and organized
in a central office. It has also been classed as one of the
early experiments worthy of study. The chief lessons of pro
cedure from the Grand Rapids plan are the following:
Use the studies of the school program to aid the child
in understanding the vocational world and in making his
choices and adjustments, lay broad foundations for the
vocational bureau, and secure the cooperation of the moral
and vocational interests of the community— library, school,
occupation, and commercial associations.^
The above plan seems to coincide with the modern trend of
thought of linking the community interests strongly with the
interests of the school.
Increase of Guidance Programs Due to Depression
Guidance programs have increased tremendously during
the last ten years chiefly due to serious situations arising
from the depression years of 1930 to the present. The Young
Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations have general,
educational, or employment secretaries who can give counsel
^ Meyer Bloomfield, Readings in Vocation Guidance (Boston:
Ginn and Company, 1915)» p. 13* See address by Richard MacLaurin.
^ John M. Brewer, The . Vocational Guidance Movement (New
York : Macmillan Company, 1923), P* 39 *
12
tô their-'members. Federal agencies, such as the COG camps
and the National Youth Administration, are bringing a greater
degree of reality and vitality into educational programs--
focusing their activities increasingly upon realistic problems
of individual and group life.
Voca-bional guidance assistance can now be procured
through universities, through government projects in the way
of bulletins, agricultural reports, civil service manuals, and
other documents. Settlements, clubs, librarians, business?
organizations, pastors of churches, writers, lecturers, teachers,
and superintendents of schools are often appealed to by stran
gers needing vocational help. The importance of the movement
cannot be overestimated. It is exceedingly important and shows
steady growth. The opportunities for research in this field
are great although an unlimited amount of work has been done
and endless articles have been written in this field.
Progress Made in the Last Twenty Years
Great progress has been made in the last twenty years
in the general field of vocational education. Leaders in
education have come increasingly to recognize that education
for vocational purposes is a legitimate and necessary part of
the school program. Education for office occupations has been
extended greatly in the secondary schools of the United States
13
during the last few years. The field of homemaking education,
in which local schools have developed one of the soundest
programs of vocational preparation, has had the least amount
of federal funds and has been the freest from restrictive
supervision by federal authorities.
The Smith-Hughes Act. The Smith-Hughes Act, which was
organized July 21, 1917, provides a method of cooperation
between the Federal Government and the States for the promotion
of vocational education in the fields of agriculture, trade,
home economics, and history. Under this act the Federal Gov
ernment does not undertake the organization and direction of
vocational training in the States, but it agrees to make from
year to year financial contribution to its support.
It undertakes to pay over to the States annually
certain sums of money and to cooperate in fostering and
promoting vocational training and the training of voca
tional teachers. The grants of federal money are con
ditional, and the acceptance of these grants imposes upon
the States the specific obligation to expend the money paid
over to them in accordance with the provisions of the act
The Smith-Hughes plan has proven very valuable. The
cooperation of the States with the Federal Government is based
upon four fundamental ideas:•
First, that vocational education being essential to
the national welfare, it is a function of the National
Government to stimulate the States to undertake this new
and needed form of service.
^ Pamphlet, Federal Board for Vocational Education,
Bulletin No. I (Washington, D.C: Government Printing Office,
1917), p. 7.
14
Second, that federal funds are necessary in order to
equalize the burden of carrying on the work among the
States•
Third, that since the Federal Government is vitally
interested in the success of vocational education, it should,
so to apeak, purchase a degree of participation in this
work.
Fourth, that only by creating such a relationship
between the central and the local governments can proper
standards of educational efficiency be set up.^
The guiding principle of the vocational education act
is that the education to be furnished must be under public
supervision and control and designed to train persons for use
ful employment, whether in agriculture, trade and industry, or
home economics. Today the vocational guidance movement occupies
a very important place in the educational scheme of this coun
try. Leading educators recognize the fact that too many people
are seeking employment in occupations for which they have little
or no training or In occupations in which they show no interest.
Fryer states that
Some vocational guidance proceeds on the assumption
that interest should be the guiding factor in determining
a career. Interest in a career usually means success:
because we all aim to do our best in a job we like.^
Since the Smith-Hughes Act is subsidized by the Federal
Government, it is important to recognize the following policies
^ Loc* cit.
^ Douglas Fryer, Measurement of Interests (New York :
Henry Holt Company, 1931), P* 144.
15
regarding the act : :
1. Vocational training must be vocational training
for the common wage-earning employments*
2. It may be given to boys and girls who, having
selected a vocation, desire preparation for entering it
as trained wage earners; to boys and girls who, having
already taken up a wage-earning employment, seek greater
efficiency in that employment; or to wage earners estab
lished in their trade or occupation, who wish through
increase in their efficiency and wage-earning capacity
to advance to positions of responsibility. No academic
studies can be supported out of Smith-Hughes money.'
For purposes of administration and inspection under
the Smith-Hughes Act, the federal board has divided the coun
try into five sections--the North Atlantic, the Southern, the
North Central, the West Central, and the Pacific. The federal
agents act as administrative representatives of the federal
board in the field, to gather information regarding methods
adopted by the several state boards for the administration of
the act and to inspect the work of the state boards in so far
as it has to do with the requirements of the law, with the
decisions and policies of the federal board, and with the
approved plans for the States. Every dollar of the federal
money appropriated for the purpose of cooperating with the
States either in the payment of salaries or the preparation
of teachers is furnished upon condition that it be matched
by an equal amount appropriated for the same purpose by the
State, the local community,, or both, in which the federal
^ Federal Board for Vocational Education, loc. cit
16
money is to be spent.
The industrial arts movement. The industrial arts
were introduced in the public schools to emphasize learning
by doing and partly as a reaction against the formal bookish
learning which prevailed. In the early schools an examination
of the objectives of the shop subjects reveals such statements
as "developing the mind", "to train hand and eye", "to train
the faculties", "to promote observation, judgment, attention,
and good habits of work".
The old psychology which emphasized transfer training
considerably influenced the first manual training courses.
Research in this field reveals that school training for the
trades and industries has a history not unlike that of the
other divisions of vocational education. In the United States,
the early efforts to provide industrial training resulted in
some type of a full-time, unit-trade school or evening school,
usually a private school conducted for profit, or privately
endowed institutions. As trade expanded following the Civil
War, the need for trained mechanics increased so rapidly that •
technical schools were developed in many of the leading high
schools of the country. Endowed trade schools were also estab>
lished, but it was not until the passage of the Smith-Hughes
Act in 1917 that industrial education began to assume its
present importance. It is significant to note the phenomenal
growth of this type of education.
17
The eleventh annual report of the Federal Board for
Vocational Education shows that the number of pupils in
federally aided industrial education classes has grown
from 117,934 in 1918 to 563,496 in 1929. In schools
state-aided but not federally aided, there were in
such classes in 1929, 63,882 pupils, making a total of
627,378 in classes receiving either state or federal aid
that year.®
The arts and crafts movement put additional emphasis
upon artistic design in shopwork-— thus laying the foundation
in industrial arts for what the progressives called "creative
expression"* The industrial arts movement was an attempt to
supplement the industrial arts with a type of work which had
for its objective direct preparation for a vocation.
History of commercial arts movement. The early commer
cial schools were dominated by the theories and practices of
the business life of the period between the Civil War and the
close of the nineteenth century, and by the educational philos*
ophy of the same period. The characteristic subjects were
penmanship, bookkeeping, stenography, and parts of arithmetic
needed by bookkeepers and stenographers. Although they filled
a very definite need during this particular period, these
courses were only fairly effective and it was very essential
that they be greatly changed to meet the needs of the new
generation.
Tracing the development of commercial education to meet
the present era, one finds that the commercial departments in
® Arthur B. Mays, to Introduction to Vocational Educa
tion (New York and London::The Céntury Company, 1930), p. 51.
18
most high schools for many years have been scenes of the
most intensive vocational training. Just as intensive as any
Smith-Hughes or trade school classes* Course requirements
have been, and still are, so definite that most commercial
students are prevented from securing the broad, general edu
cation values which the public high school should provide.
Ten years ago Arthur Mays said that he believed that
very little attention was given to local demand and office
practices, emphasis being upon standardized courses and methods
of work. He seemed to favor "breaking away from traditional
programs and adding the subjects needed by the great body of
young people entering the business employments, other than
bookkeeping and stenography"
Investigation in local schools has been made regarding
this subject, which will be explained in further detail in a
subsequent chapter. However, it might be valuable to quote
from Herbert S. Wood regarding the major requirements as he
sees them in the local public schools. Wood believes in
A minimum of general education in high school for
commercial majors as being more essential than ever before,
and being broader in scope under our present much more
complex society where the demands upon the Individual are
more extensive than has been true at any time in our
national history.
High schools must insist that all students, commercial
majors included, must complete a core of general education
regardless of the amount of technical training they are
^ Ibid.. p. 140.
19
able to secure during the time it is available.
II. EUROPE
European educators, like the Americans, realized the
fact that it was very essential to help people to choose their
right occupations. If people would become more vocationally
conscious, it seemed to European thinkers that they would not
change jobs as often and would be given work more suited to
their individual abilities.
GERMANY
In Germany, as in the United States, vocational guidance
started outside of the school--mainly in philanthropic and other
organizations. In 1902 the Municipal Labor Bureau of Strass-
burg in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce began the
scientific placement of children leaving school. In 1908
offices were opened during the evenings for vocational infor
mation and counsel for parents and their children, under the
direction of Dr. Wolff of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In
1912 a vocational guidance bureau was organized by the Manu
facturers* Association of Leipzig for young people leaving
school. In 1913 the Labor Bureau of Berlin began to give
vocational information through moving pictures.
Today most of the vocational guidance is being given by
or in cooperation with the schools. Neuberg states that
Herbert S. Wood, "Commercial Education, Its Place in
High School," Los Angeles School Journal, 23: 9, May 1940.
20
The most important step toward the successful appli
cation of vocational guidance in Germany seems to be the
elimination of all fee-charging employment agencies, which,
throughout the Reich, were succeeded by State Employment
Bureaus. Today we find attached to each State Employment
Bureau specially trained counsellors with more than gen
eral insight into human nature, and with a thorough know
ledge of the whole field of industry.
The Germans have struggled for ten years with adverse
conditions but have now developed a rather advanced system of
guidance. It is their method to prepare statistics long be
fore pupils leave the elementary school in order to show how
many apprentices can be absorbed by the various trades. The
schools are obliged to supply all the necessary details as to
the number of pupils to be discharged, their inclinations
(gathered from observation), state of health, social environ
ment, psychological data as to memory, attention, reasoning
power, and examination marks during the last two years.
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND
The Education Act was passed in England on November 28,
1910, in which it was requested that education authorities
persuade parents to leave their children longer at school and
to send them into occupations which will give them a means of"
livelihood. In Scotland, in 1904, a vocational guidance pro
gram was suggested by Mrs. Ogilvie Gordon by which boys and
girls could be helped to secure the proper employment.
Maurice J. Neuberg, Principles and Methods of Voca
tional Choice (New York: Prentiee-Kall Company^ 1934), p. 35.
21
In the year 1917 the Juvenile Advisory Gdmmittee began
functioning in England in conjunction with the various employ
ment exchanges to see (1) that boysand girls under eighteen
years of age received directly, or through their^parents, in
formation and advice in regard to a choice of suitable employ
ment and (2) to study the state and condition of employment,
both local and national, so far as these affected the prospects
of boys and girls. In the selection and submission of candi
dates for situations due regard was paid to the mental and
physical capacity of the individual child satisfactorily to
engage in the particular form of industry in question.
FRANCE
In 1917 A. TT Smith reported;-
France led in the modern movement for vocational guid
ance of industrial classes. . . City authorities, chambers-
of commerce, trade syndicates, and innumerable private
societies give liberal support to technical schools and
to evening and Sunday classes maintained in the interestt
of the working people. No country equals France in this
respect.13
According to Gautier::
In June 1920 the Ministry of Labor requested the re
gional vocational offices at Lille, Paris, Strasbourg,
Nantes, Lyon, Marseilles, and Toulouse to make cautious
experiments in giving vocational guidance to children
leaving school. In 1921 vocational guidance services were
in operation in more than twenty towns.^4
Ibid:, p. 38.
13 T
Loc. cit.
14 T
Loe. cit.
22
BELGIUM
In Belgium, a vocational guidance center was estab
lished on February 20, 1936. Classes in commercial training,
domestic economy, and classes for the training of architects
were started in May of the same year.
In January 1937 the Belgian Young Christian Workers*
organization carried out an inquiry into apprenticeship in
Belgium, with the purpose of collecting the fullest possible
data on various questions connected with apprenticeship.
Among the reforms listed by the Young Workers section of the
Belgian Trade Union Committee were;:(l) extension of protective
legislation to cover apprentices and young workers, (2) legis
lation to protect salaried employees up to the age of eighteen
years, (3) inclusion in collective agreements and articles of
apprenticeship of a minimum wage scale based on age and com
petence, (4) organization of compulsory supplementary vocational
training up to the age of eighteen years (during working hours),
and (5) at least two weeks holiday with pay for young workers,
including apprentices.
POLAND
The first vocational high schools were established in
Poland in 1937* In July 1936 the curriculum of engineering
studies for the new technical high schools was drafted by the
Ministry of Education in cooperation with the chambers of
industry and commerce. Resolutions in regard to improvement
23
of the conditions of apprenticeships which were adopted at
a conference in February 1937 recommended: (1) prohibition
of unpaid employment, (2) fixing of the ratio of apprentices
to adult workers, (3) supervision of workshops in which ap
prentices were employed, (4) preparation by experts of detailed
curricula for each trade, and (5) medical examination of young
people.
GREECE
A National Youth organization was established in Greece
in November 1936. The chief objective of this organization
was the development of vocational guidance and the organiza
tion of spare time occupations for young people. Provision
for the establishment of a training school for the hotel in
dustry was made by a decree of April 24, 1936.
SOVIET RUSSIA
Great progress has been made in the training of skilled
workers during the past few years. Hugh S. Hanna, editor of
the Monthly Labor Review quotes the following figures which
show the importance of vocational training in Soviet Russia.
The number of pupils admitted to the vocational schools
attached to factories and workshops rose from 255,000 in
1933 to 294,100 in 1934 and 325,000 in 1935. Side by side
with this increase in the number of apprentice pupils, it
was also noticed that there was a very marked rise in the
attendance at worker’s colleges— 276^000 persons in 1936.
as compared with 49,200 in 1928. The proportion of workers
in higher educational institutions rose from 25.4 per cent
in 1928 to 45 per cent in 1935. The provision of minimum
24
technical training and classes for workers belonging to
the Stakhanov movement was also widely extended. 5
III. OTHER CIVILIZED COUNTRIES
Other civilized countries have organized national and
local bureaus in vocational guidance. Vocational activities
were greatly expanded in the year 1936 and in the early part
of 1937. New legislation was introduced to regulate this form
of education to bring it into harmony with economic and occu
pational requirements. Leading authorities have come to realize
more and more that vocational training in its broadest sense
should be an essential feature of every economic policy.
INDIA
Early in 1937 the Bombay government gave its approval
to a plan under which a number of employers agreed to take
into their establishments boys who had a certain standard of
education, the term of such employment to be approximately
five years. During this time eighty-nine industrial plants
volunteered to take on a total of 425 boys per year as learners
at a beginning wage of 15 rupees a month. The number of boys
that were engaged under this plan was to be based bn the num
ber of skilled adults which each branch of industry was able
to absorb at the close of the training period. The engineering,
electrical, and printing industries have been among the first
to engage such trainees. Provision was made in the agreement
Hugh S. Hanna, "Vocational Activities in Foreign Coun
tries," Monthly Labor Review, 45:1144, November 1937.
25
for the compulsory attendance of these boys at technical even
ing classes during the training period*
AUSTRALIA
Under an ordinance of April 2, 1936, provision was
made for the establishment of an apprenticeship board and of
trade committees. During the same year the Commonwealth Gov
ernment of Australia appropriated the sum of 2,000,000 pounds
for the development of technical education, this money to be
distributed over a four year period. An Australian Education
Council, which was made up of the ministers of education of
the various states, was established for the purpose of regular
consultation on educational matters. An Employment Research
Committee was established in 1934 at New South Wales to study
problems of juvenile employment. This committee, in turn,
presented to the Minister of Labor a summary report of the
opinions of the labor council and of employers on apprentice
ship. The report recommended that a minimum age (sixteen years)
be fixed for apprenticeship, that apprentices be exchanged,
and that wage rates be fixed for apprentices.
JAPAN
During the year 1936, the vocational guidance program
in Japan became more prominent. Recommendations were made at
the Eighth National Conference on Vocational Guidance held at
Osaka favoring a more precise definition of the object and
26
scope of vocational guidance, for the appointment of full
time vocational guidance counselors or officers, for more
propaganda in favor of vocational guidance in.schools, and
for reorganization of the existing apprenticeship system.
CHINA
In China guiding principles were set forth for a voca
tional education program on February 5, 1937, by the Minister
of Education. The major feature of the plan was the estab-?
lishment of a network of occupational classes organized by
the universities, the technical schools, and the trade organ
izations of corporations.
CHAPTER III
PURPOSES OF TEACHING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COURSES
I. SATISFACTION OF HUMAN WANTS
In a modern democracy it is necessary to equip every
young person for some occupation so that he may contribute
effectively to the satisfaction of human wants and to the
welfare of the group to which he belongs* Even the most primi
tive societies recognize the necessity of this preparation for
participation in economic production* The preparation of work
ers for their jobs becomes more complex in a highly mechanized
social order. It is, therefore, most essential that by some
means society equip all its citizens with the skills and in
formation necessary for the individual to be a useful member
of that society.
Charles-A. Prosser says that the purpose of vocational
education should be to supplement general education. Vocational
education should follow, not accompany, general education.
"It should be built upon the largest foundation of general
education which the youth is willing and able to lay before he
undertakes training for an occupation or pursuit."^
Philip W. L. Cox advocates:
Conventional subject teaching has held its place for
so long a time where the curriculum is the end of the
^ Charles A. Prosser, Vocational Education in a Demo
cracy (New York: The Century Company, 1925), p. 94.
28
educative process; pupils "learn" history or master math
ematics, or memorize paradigms. Only alert teachers and
administrators conceive the curriculum to be a means, an
instrument for helping children attain individual and
social adjustments. Advisement and guidance should be
an integral part of the daily responsibility of every
high school teacher.^
Dr. Eliot, President of Harvard University in 1910,
at an address delivered before the National Education Asso
ciation in Boston, at that time expressed his views as follows
The great majority of American children are permitted
to go out into the world as unskilled laborers, without
having chosen any trade or other occupation requiring
skill, and without having felt in their school work the
motive of a life career.^
He believed this to be an evil not to be cured merely by
legislation but by serious modifications of the programs of
the American elementary and secondary schools, and the accept
ance on the part of teachers and school authorities of the
function of guiding children into appropriate life work and
providing new kinds of instruction and new organizations like
continuation schools and trade schools.
II. ADVISEMENT AND GUIDANCE
Eminent authorities agree that vocational education
courses should not only emphasize the importance of advisement
and guidance but that the programs of the elementary and secon
dary schools should be modified so that both general education
and practical education should have their definite place.
^ Philip W. L. Cox and J. C. Duff, Guidance by the Class
room Teacher (New York: Prentice-Hall, IncTJ 1938), p. 76*
5 Meyer Bloomfield, Readings in Vocational Guidance
(Boston: Ginn and Sompany, 1915),p*~^.
29
Although It is true that some authorities term any subject
as "vocational" that has to do with the primary function of
"earning a living" the writer has limited this study to four
definite fields for study. According to the report of the
Committee on Vocational Education, "The purpose of vocational
education courses is to fit an individual to pursue effectively
a recognized profitable employment whether pursued for wages
or otherwise."4
Definitions of four fields of study. Since the author
of this thesis has attempted to study four definite fields of
vocational education, a comprehensive set of definitions as
cited by one authority may prove valuable for the purposes of
further comprehension of this thesis. Dr. David Spence Hill
gives the following definitions in his book :
1. "Vocational commercial education includes those
forms of vocational education the direct purpose of each of
which is to fit for some recognized comm'ercial calling.
2. "Vocational industrial education includes those
forms of vocational education the direct purpose of each of
which is to fit the individual for some industrial pursuit
or trade.
^ National Education Association, Report of Committee
on Vocational Education, United States Education Bulletin 21,
pp. 23, 36, 42-49.
30
3. "Industrial arts education Includes those forms of
training and study based upon industrial pursuits and designed
to enhance general intelligence and give vocational guidance
in the field of industrial occupations.
4. "Vocational home-making education includes those
forms of vocational education the direct object of which is
to fit for home-making as practiced by the wife and mother in
the home and also for some specialized forms as practiced by
household employees, housekeepers, or other wage-earning
assistants to the home-maker
III. BASIC PURPOSES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COURSES
Intensive reading and research have disclosed some very
salient facts regarding the purposes of teaching vocational
education courses. Both early and later writers agree upon
the basic values— mainly that vocational education and voca
tional guidance have both intrinsic social and practical values.
Leading psychologists, economists, and sociologists agree that
a person’s whole life and the achievement of happiness revolve
around his life career. Most authorities assert that the re
building of the life of the nation can come about only through
the right kind of vocational education.
^ David Spence Hill, Introduction to Vocational Educa
tion (New York: Macmillan Company, 1920), p. 49.
31
A. SOCIAL VALUES
1. Prepare youths to be useful citizens. There is
some difference of opinion as to the scope and direction which
vocational guidance is to assume. Most thinkers agree, how
ever, that vocational education courses should prepare youths
to be useful citizens and have socially adjusted personalities..
They agree that work must be suited to the individual. Youth
must be taught to face the realities of life and its intricate
problems.
Work of the GQC camps. The unemployment of youth has
challenged society for the past ten years. Some provision had
to be made to fill the needs of individuals who were left soci
ally stranded and with nothing definite to do. It seems to the
author that the Civilian Conservation Corps has somewhat helped
to prepare youth to become useful citizens. .
Investigation has shown that the CCC operated for six
years as an independent establishment until July 1, 1939, when
it was transferred to the Federal Security Agency. Its enrollees
have participated in more than 150 types of work and have aided
a conservation program which extended into every state in the
United States, to Alaska, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and
Hawaii. Through the efforts of the CCC workers, the output of
federal and state tree nurseries has been more than tripled dur
ing the six-year period that the organization has been in opera
tion. Enrollees have assisted in conserving soil resources on
thirteen million acres of farm and grazing lands by helping to
32
control gullies, build terraces, plant trees, and do many other
kinds of work useful in erosion control.
Other work activities in which GOG enrollees have given
service are the rehabilitation of reclamation projects, emer
gency rescue work, flood control work, improvement of grazing
conditions in the western states, construction of airplane land
ing fields, building of radio stations, and improvement of
recreational facilities in national and state forests and parks
and related areas.
The main objective of the GGG since its creation in 1933
has been the conservation of unemployed youth, of their welfare
and potentialities for vocational training. Every aspect of
the camp life of the enrollees increases their employability
and usefulness as citizens. In addition to these benefits,
organized educational activities of many kinds are carried on
in the camps. Hugh S. Hanna in the Monthly Labor Review of
December, 1939, gives some interesting statistics ; :
In 1938-39, the average number of enrollees in the Corps
was 273,572, and over nine-tenths (91*3 per cent) of them
(that is, 249,768) on the average, were regular attendants
in organized educational classes and activities. Thirty-
seven per cent participated in academic activitiessixteen
per cent in informal educational activities ;^thirteen per
cent in professional training; and fifty-nine per cent in
first-aid, health, safety, and life-saving classes.°
Since only a small portion of the enrq^lees had had
vocational training or experience before their enrollment, it
^ United States Department of Labor, Bûreau of Labor
Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, 49:1411, December, 1939#
33
was necessary for them to be trained while in camp to fill
such Jobs as clerk, cook, mess steward, and truck driver. In
addition, the men had to be trained for whatever work projects
were begun after completion of their enrollment. Classes in
related subjects were also conducted during leisure time. Seventy-
one per cent of the men were enrolled in twenty-one vocational
courses, but 240 different vocational subjects were being taught.
The more popular subjects included bookkeeping, typing, short
hand, office practice, business management, electricity, house
wiring, cabinet making, auto mechanics, retail merchandising,
and drafting.
The CCC camps have done a valuable piece of work, but
they have not met in its entirety the problem of the maladjusted
or unemployed youth. It is still a movement subject to challenge
and further experimentation.
2. Teach appreciation of one's capacities and abilities.
Vocational guidance must assist the youth in learning to ap
preciate his own capacities and responsibilities. Through the
work that he is taking he must learn concerning the opportuni
ties for service that the country offers. Hé must prepare
himself to take his place in the civic affairs of the nation
and not be contented with preparation for life only in terms
of his own particular interests.
3. Inculcate definite ideals of citizenship. In this
day and age, with its intricate problems of insecurity due to
the unsettled world conditions, vocational guidance courses
34
must seek to inculcate worthy ideals of citizenship in all
the youth of the nation. It is not enough to teach the basic
skills and aptitudes necessary, for the performance of the Job.
One must be taught the meaning of good government, just taxa
tion, and good citizenship in a democracy. Group loyalty must
be emphasized and group participation must be directed with
the purpose of taking pride in civic responsibility.
4. Develop desirable social attitudes. It is most
essential today that the secondary school curriculum should
be so constructed as to meet the demands of a democratic soci
ety. It should not only develop in each individual the know
ledge, interests, and powers whereby he will find his place in
society, but it should also aim to develop desirable social
attitudes in the adolescent boy and girl. His attitude toward
society and its problems, his attitude toward religion and morals,
his attitude toward life’s obligations, may be considered equally,
if not more, important than the vast amount of intellectual
training he has acquired. In other words, the school should
awaken in the consciousness of the adolescent the social point
of view. It should be concerned with the problems of youth--
his companions outside of school, his leisure-time activities,
his ideals, his choice of a life career, and his interest in
civic welfare. Since the secondary student is at a formative
period in his development, the personal influence of the
teacher is more significant than subject-matter achievement.
The teacher can build up desirable attitudes through effective
35
guidance. Most students can point out the particular teachers
who are a conditioning factor in their lives far beyond the
influence of the subjects being studied. Unless the school is^
concerned with attitudes developed in relation to the adjust
ment problems of the adolescent student, education is nott
achieving its purpose and the school is failing.
5. Develop vocationally adjusted individuals. Vocational
motives have been given prominence for the past thirty years.
Economists have realized that in the political field the old
"laissez-faire" doctrines have been forced to abandon in favor
of doctrines designed to fit men for the actual conditions of
the modern world.
The life-career motive has a supreme value and should
be recognized early. Vocational guidance experts recognize
the fact that interest should be the guiding factor in deter
mining a career. Without interest toward a specific occupation,
work is colorless and difficult. With interests, work becomes
vitally worthwhile to the individual, abilities are developed,
and achievements are realized. Abilities coupled with interests
spell success*
Dr. Bogardus states that
One’s entire personality is affected by one’s vocational
life, since not only the largest part of the day but the
best part of one’s life is devoted to occupational activi
ties. Occupation is doing. It has an action psychology.'
7 E. 8. Bogardus, lecture notes, course in "Occupational
Attitudes and Values," The University of Southern California.
36
Again quoting Bogardus: "Favorable experiences in an
occupation together with favorable reflection regarding one’s
occupation produces occupational-centrism."^
Dr. Park makes a very important statement regarding
the effect of personality upon one's entire life. He says,
"Personality is the basis upon which all social institutions,
movements, and conditions, in short all the phenomena of social
life, rest. "9
The author seems to favor Dr. Park’s reactions. That
one’s personality affects the entire realm of one’s social life
is true. It is heard over and over again that a happily adjusted
individual is one who has a favorable personality and one who
is successfully adjusted in his vocation. Most recent critics
are of the opinion that the progress of civilization depends
upon the development of well-rounded personalities. It is
usually the successful leader who builds up social institutions ;
it is the successful leaders who develop a certain sense of
social responsibility and a favorable group consciousness, while
the reverse is true of the maladjusted personality. Good living
and good working conditions are a favorable factor of satis
factory group participation in community life. It is, there
fore, exceedingly important that the individual be vocationally
^ E. S. Bogardus, "The Occupational Attitude," Journal
of Applied Sociology, 8:171, January, 1924.
^ Robert S. Park and Ernest W. Burgess, Introduction to
the Science of Sociology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1929), p. 127.
37
adjusted if he is to become a useful member of society.
B. PRACTICAL VALUES
Vocational guidance must be constructive. America must
make its vocational guidance programs constructive in order to
meet the changing needs of society. Before attention was given
to this important educational movement, the youth of the coun
try faced a world which it did not understand ; :youth entered
blindly into whatever jobs were available. With the advance
of knowledge in this growing field some youth have been afforded
opportunity to find better places for themselves in the social
order. Vocational guidance has helped to give them a definite
calling in life as well as a more satisfactory means of earning
a living. However, there are still a vast army of maladjusted
youth who need definite vocational guidance.
The secondary schools have an excellent opportunity to
do effective guidance work by encouraging their students to
take part in any number of activities such as school orchestras,
debating clubs, football teams, and dramatics. Positive moti
vation should always be used as a first step in guidance.
According to Judd, the curriculum, like the school it
self, should be an aspect of the general social order. The
school should expand or contract in conformity with the expan
sion and contraction of social interests. Dr. Keller believes
that no matter which aspects of guidance are most important,
38
the vocational aspect is the most essential to youth.
Another important step in vocational guidance must be
toward more adequate placement facilities and the follow-up
of all pupils who have attended public schools* Continuation-
school guidance officers usually care for such placement and
follow-up in states that have extended .compulsory school, age
to sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen. It has been found that
the need of youths for vocational counsel is quite as real
during later adolescence as during early adolescence. No such
guidance is now available except for volunteer and private
agencies. It would seem to the writer that such types .of
guidance would be most constructive and would undoubtedly be
a step in the right direction.
More attention must be given to business training.
Business leaders are demanding that more attention be given
to training in the field of business because great opportuni
ties exist there for gainful employment. They advise more
intensive specialization in the fields of clerical activities
and salesmanship than in the fields of shorthand and bookkeep
ing because there are more opportunities in the former.
Authorities have maintained that business education
has three values; the social, the personal, and the vocational.
Is it not possible that the importance of the first
two values, the social and the personal-use objectivesv
exist largely in the minds of those who are teaching in
this field? Certain it is that the job incentive is the
39
primary reason for the interest of the vast majÿ^ity of
boys and girls who major in business education.
Relationship of vocational training to community needs..
An analysis of community needs in the light of present-day
tendencies discloses that definite changes have taken place in
both rural and urban centers. The old community of the fathers,
has tended to disintegrate— the intimate unity of the primary
group has been shattered. Today we live in an entirely differ
ent world--a world of technological progress, expanded popu
lation, rapid communications, industrialization, and extreme
personal mobility.
The term "community" has come to mean a number of dif
ferent things. Lloyd Gook in Community Backgrounds of Education
says that it may be used to designate a specific social group,
such as a "grosse familie", a gang, or a church; or it may be
applied to an inclusive racial or cultural group.
Lindeman defines a community as follows:
The community, which is an aggregate of families, is
the vital unit of society in which the individual secures
his education, receives his standards of health and moral
ity, expresses his recreational tendencies, and labors to
earn his share of worldly g o o d s .IT
The extent of the growth of the community idea is rather
significant if one stops to consider that three centuries ago
John M. Given, "An Experimental Program in Business
Education," Journal of Business Education, 15:14-16, June 1940.
T1 Edward C. Lindeman, The Community (New York; Associ
ation Press, 1921), p. 9#
40
the American frontier was just outside the villages of Boston
and New Amsterdam* The history of transportation also reveals
important changes. One need only to look back to the gold
rush period of 1849 when it took people several months to cross
the great’plains, then compare it with the present time. Today
regular air lines cross the continent in much less than twenty-
four hours.
There is no doubt that the community has changed basic
ally* It would, therefore, seem to the writer that the schools
should endeavor to meet community needs. Many critics are in
clined to believe that the schools have failed to meet youth!s
problems because they lack contact with real life in the com
munity of which they are an integral part. The school and the
community should be linked closer together in their activities.
Lloyd Allen Cook's further analysis of the meaning of a
community is worthy of consideration and thought in this con
nection.
The community is simply a particular type of spatial
group, plus its culture, an activity circle which embraces
the inhabitants of an area and functions in a specific
manner. More concretely defined, a community is a popula
tion aggregate, inhabiting a contiguous territory, inte
grated through common experience, possessing a number of
basic service institutions, conscious of its local unity,
and able to act in a corporate capacity.T2
The school may well be considered a basic service insti
tution and as such it fills a very definite need in the community
1 ?
Lloyd Allen Cook, Community Backgrounds of Education
(New York ; McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1938)7 P* 27.
4i
Because of the fact that the school faces such an important
need, its curriculum should he so constructed and so organized!
that it will he flexible enough to meet the requirements of
the particualr community of which it is a part. It should be
subject to change and modification whenever it is considered
necessary.
In other words, the public school bears a very definite
relationship to the home and community. The writer is inclined
to agree with Professor Yeager when he says :
The modern home is an integral part of every community
just as every community is the sum total of its homes and
institutions. Communities differ in so many ways, yet
there are certain integrating forces present in each one.
The public school is one of these. This the community
provides for its children. The school environments should
be such that happy citizens e m e r g e .T3
Research in this field has convinced the author that
citizens cannot be happy unless they are adequately trained to
be useful citizens in the respective communities in which they
live and in which they should take an active part. It is here
that the schools can do so much to meet the needs of the com
munity through its various educational aspects. Leading
authorities agree that effective vocational training and voca
tional guidance programs must now take first place in the
present order of society. It is only through increased train
ing and more attention to job preparation that community needs
can be realized.
William Â. Yeager, Home-School-Gommunity Relations
(Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 1939), P* 132.
42
One must not lose sight of the fact that community
needs could be better realized if community planning were given
greater consideration. In the pioneer days of America, our
forefathers were so occupied with making a living, that com
munities just sprung up with very little planning or fore
sight to meet the needs or crises of future development. Today
careful planning of new communities, adequate preparation for
future careers, and definite expansion of community projects
are most essential for the progress of civilization. To these
problems the modern school curriculum can lend aid.
IV. THE PLAGE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
COURSES IN THE CURRICULUM
Schools meet a definite need. In the past half century,
under the complex organization of industrial society, the
responsibility for much of the vocational preparation has been .
transferred to the schools. Pressures from outside the school
system have been, in a large measure, responsible for the
introduction of programs looking toward the preparation of
young people for vocational efficiency. The schools have
organized for the giving of vocational education in three
ways: the all-day school, the part-time cooperative plan, and
the part-time or evening classes.
All-day school programs. Since the school is set up
to deal with young people, much of its service in preparing
43
for vocations will usually come before the person enters
productive employment. This type of vocational education is
usually arranged in the all-day school program and is desig
nated as pre-entry training. This type of training usually
coincides satisfactorily with the all-day school program since
a large amount of intellectual content is required for the
successful pursuit of a vocation.
Cooperative type programs. A second type of school
program for vocational education is referred to as the cooper
ative plan. Under such a plan the pupil goes to school for
about half his time and engages in some productive employment
assigned through the school the remainder of the time. Both
the school work and the employment can be related to the type
of occupation in which the young person expects eventually to
engage•
Part-time and evening classes. A third type of program
in vocational training involves the maintenance of classes on
a part-time basis or in evening schools and is meant for those
who are engaged in full-time employment. The services of the
schools may be either for the purpose of improving the worker
in the line of employment in which he is engaged, or for
equipping him with skill in some other occupation. Related
training on a part-time basis for apprentices is an example
of this type of program in the schools.
CHAPTER IV
SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COURSES
The American family. Since the World War the status
of the American family has changed very rapidly. The rate
of.population growth, the rise of new inventions, and the
spectacular increase in efficiency and productivity have tended
to influence the entire mode of living of both the rural and
the urban inhabitants.
The rate of population growth in the United States has
long been declining, but this fact has perhaps been obscured
because ©f the size of the net increase decade by decade.
"The increase from 1920 to 1930 was seventeen million as com^
pared with fourteen million in the years 1910 to 1920, within
which the World War occurred. Before the Civil War, however,
the population was increasing at the rate of about thrity-five
per cent a decade. Between 1920 and 1930 it increased only
sixteen per centStatisticians see possibilities of still
greater declines in growth with the probability of a station
ary population. They show "that we shall probably attain a
1
John T. Greenan, American Civilization Today (New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Incll 1934), Chapter 3> p. 22.
45
population between 145 and 190 million during the present'
century, with the probability that the actual population will
be nearer the lower figure than the higher.”^ Such a prospect
is radically different from that predicted a generation or.
even a decade ago.
There have been definite changes of population group
ings both in the rural areas and in the cities. The lives
of the inhabitants of the great rural areas have been pro
foundly modified by innumerable factors. Improved•communi
cations, the advantages of quantity production, and possibil
ities of national marketing have been increasing in all sections
of the country with the result that there has been a tendency
toward uniformity of American life in the city and the country.
Cities have been subjected to rural influences through migration
while rural communities--villagers as well as farmers— havec^been
obtaining from the cities more of the new conveniences and amen
ities which invention offers. They find that they are entangled
in perplexities arising from the fact that new and old habits do
not fuse harmoniously. The economic union of rural and urban
America is assuming new forms, largely shaped by the automobile
and communication inventions; but the union and adjustments of^
the American family are proving more and more difficult.
2
Ibid. p. 23.
46
There has been a continual development in machines of
production so that a larger proportion of work by machines
and a smaller proportion of human labor is to be expected in
the future, ^any revolutionary inventions are now in process
of development which may affect the life of the American
family as profoundly as has the automobile.
James H. Bedford states that the history of inventions
indicates that it takes at least thirty years after an in
vention is made before it is adopted for general use.^ Elect
rical inventions will probably play an important part in
future technological development. He concluded:
The photo-electric cell promises to eliminate many
workers from industry. The airplane will probably play
an increasing role in long-haul transportation while the
all-metal dirigible will undoubtedly displace the steam
ship as a means of trans-oceanic passenger travel.^
Changes in the role of the family. Definite changes
have taken place in the various functions of the home. The
factory displaced the family as the chief unit of economic
production, mostly because steam, which took the place of
man power, could not be used efficiently in so small a unit
as the home. The educational and protective functions of the
home were transferred in part to the state or to industry.
Other institutions, which were perhaps less personal in char-
^ James H. Bedford, ”A Study of the Vocational Interests
of Secondary School Students Based on Survey of Secondary
Schools" (Doctor’s Dissertation, The University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, June 1934)^ p.91.
^ Loc . cit.
47
acter, grew up outside the home and' gradually extended their
influence upon the lives of members of the family in their
outside activities.
Today the family has become artificial and complicated
due to the complex and crowded society in which the average
individual is forced to live. It is, therefore, more essen
tial than ever that vocational education should function
effectively to meet the needs of these changing conditions.
A. J. Muste reveals an interesting finding in' which
he states : :
Industrialism has brought the herding of immense
populations into close and inadequate quarters, often
under conditions shockingly unsanitary, making privacy
and the moral habits and attitudes that go with it im
possible. The resultant conditions of crowding, noise,
lack of sunlight and fresh air, removal from contact with
nature to which human beings in the mass have never before
been subjected on such a scale, are certainly in part
responsible for the emotional instability and the rest
lessness of modern populations which have an important
influence on family life.5
Cultural life. Most people recognize the fact that
the depression has affected the social, recreational, and
cultural activities of the American family. Men work fewer
hours per day and per week. The home tasks of women are lessE
time-consuming. Child labor has been greatly reduced, and
5
A. J. Muste, "The Integrity of the Family as a Test
of Industry," in Rich, Family Life Today (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1928), p. 80.
48
though school time has been extended, children may share in
growing leisure no less than their parents.
How best to use the leisure hours has been an increas
ing problem of society during the past ten or fifteen years.
Commercial amusements such as the moving picture, the auto
mobile, the radio, tennis, baseball, golf, and other similar
recreations have grown exceedingly so that we spend much more
money on those diversions than our ancestors spent on such
recreations as fishing, riding, hunting, and visiting.
Statistics reveal some very interesting facts regard
ing the expenditures of the American people in 1929 for items,
involved in what may be termed as leisure time activities:
Two hundred million dollars were spent on flowers and
shrubs, 600 million on Jewelry and silverware, 400 million
on newspapers, 700 million dollars on cosmetics and beauty
parlors, 900 million dollars on games and sports, 2,000
million on motion pictures and concerts, and 4,000 million
on home furnishings. The outlays upon some items in this
list have been heavily cut during the depression; but
there is little doubt that expenditures upon recreations
and indulgences of many kinds will tend to rise in the
future as per capita income Increases.
Wh®n one takes account of the fact that recreation
today is so very essential to meet the physical and mental
needs of one’s existence and that man is not by nature adapted
to long, tedious hours of work, we are bound to see that one’s
vocational life is influenced very strongly by one’s cultural
^ Bedford, op. cit., p. 92.
49
pursuits. Usually the person who has some opportunity for
leisure time pursuits fits in better with his vocational
scheme of living. Government supervision of people in their
free hours may often prove beneficial if the supervision is
of the type which will give a maximum amount of pleasure of
the right sort.
Adolescent youth. Because of the changing conception .
of society and the complexity of the problems arising from
the changes that have been taking place in industry, in society,
and in education, the youth of today needs to be aided to
acquire an understanding of the variety of the vocational
opportunities now open. It is quite natural that when young
people are faced with the problem of choosing a vocation that
they usually turn first to the familiar occupations with which
they have had some contact or about which they possess some
information;
Mr. Frederick J. Allen"^ in Principles and Problems of
Vocational Guidance states that sixty-four per cent of the
boys* choices were in five occupations; medicine, law, business,
civil engineering, and pharmacy. Sixty-five per cent of the
girls* choices were in three general fields : teaching, music,
and secretarial work. Eighty-three per cent of all the students
^ Frederick J. Allen, Principles and Problems in Voca
tional Guidance (Hew York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1^27)»
p. 66.
50
chose ten occupations: teaching, medicine, engineering,
business, law, stenography, music, pharmacy, secretarial •
work, and dentistry.’ Seventy-four per cent selected vocations
in the professional group* Forty-two per cent of the girls
selected teaching.
Today it is most essential that young people acquire
a broader and more comprehensive knowledge of the occupations
open to choice and in which a shortage of skilled workmen
exists, instead of taking up occupations for which they show
no special adaptability or in which no opportunities for
employment present themselves. Industrialists who were con
sulted in the spring of 1937 were convinced that a distressing
shortage of skilled labor existed at that time.
The needs of the country for occupational preparation
are very apparent since the best interests of society demand
that every individual be equipped for some occupation so that
he may contribute effectively to the satisfaction of human
wants. The public school has proved to be an effective agency
for occupational preparation. Much of the preparation must be
given on the job, rather than in the school. The service of
the schools in supplying vocational education for occupations
of the trade and industrial type should be chiefly to culti
vate in the pupils a broad range of basic abilities of value
in a whole related family of occupations. The training that
51
is given in vocational education should include instruction
with reference to the social and economic situation into which
the worker must fit and the legal provisions governing his
employment, â sound program of vocational education must in
clude not only training but guidance and placement also.
Schools furnishing vocational education should provide for
the guidance of pupils, and should cooperate closely with
public employment offices in the initial placement and adjust
ment of those students leaving the full-time school.
The significant factor today in social life is one’s
occupation. For social reasons, the placement of a student
in congenial work when he has finished his education must be
recognized as of great significance to the individual. An
individual’s personal happiness depends to a great extent upon
his work.
Social philosophers from Plato to Lester Ward, have
built their systems of thought upon this human goal. We
must remember that the greater part of one’s life span
after the conclusion of formal education is devoted to
work. The situations of life largely depend upon the
character of work in which one is engaged. No factor is
more important toward happy living than being engaged in
the right work.®
Training individuals for jobs which do not exist leads
to discontent, pessimism, and apathy. A man’s emotional
^ Harold F. Clark, "Economic Effects of Education,"
Journal of Higher Education, 1;141, March, 1930.
52:
stability depends upon his being engaged in the proper work.
Psychiatrists and psychologists have indicated the relation
ship of emotional maladjustment to one’s occupation. Unless
a person is engaged in work satisfying to him, he is likely
to be cramped and crippled in all other departments of his
being. The complexities of modern society have produced tre
mendously increased and varied stimulations upon the individ
ual .
Closely related to emotional stability is the individ
ual’s social status. Today one’s social sphere is determined
chiefly in terms of vocation. When America was an agricultural
and maritime society, one’s social life depended on where one
lived. Because times have changed so markedly, it is doubly
important that the adolescent youth of the present generation
be given adequate preparation for the important task of earn
ing a living. The place of industrial education is not to
hurry the preparation of the individual pupil for his individ
ual trade.
If schools are to recognize the needs of all classes
of pupils, and to give pupils a training that will insure
their becoming successful and valuable citizens, they must
give work that will not only make the pupils strong physic
ally and morally but give them the right attitudes toward
their neighbors that will as well give them enough control
over their material environment to enable them to be
economically independent.^
^ John Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow (New York: E. P.
Dutton and Company, 1915), p. 308.
53
It has been estimated that ::
Sixty per cent or over of the discharges from business
and industry are caused not from lack of skill or tech
nical knowledge, but from lack of right attitudes and of
the understanding of fundamental relationships. It is,
therefore, the responsibility of the school in giving
vocational'and educational information to aim to develop
the right attitudes in harmony with the demands of social
and economic life.^^
According to Professor Harry D. Kitson this instruction may
be practical as well as cultural. He maintains it is just as
essential to know the parts played in civilization by the
plumber and the astronomer, as to know the parts played by
Nero and Queen Elizabeth.
Preparation for the professions has always been taken
care of.. It is the future of the worker in industry which
has been neglected. The complications of modern industry due
to scientific discoveries make it necessary for the worker
who aspires to real success to have a good foundation of gen
eral education on which to build his technical skill. The
complications of human nature make it equally necessary that
the beginner shall find his way into work that is suited to
his tastes and abilities.
It is not only of significant interest but it is also
exceedingly important to note the rapid changes in industry
which have been taking place as a result of the sharp turn
10
John M. Brewer, "Causes of Discharge," The Personnel
Journal, October, 1936.
54
of European affairs during the last few months.
On June 21, 1940, the United States Junior Chamber of
Commerce passed a resolution favoring compulsory military
training.^^ To achieve "adequate national defense", it also
approved "training of individuals in skills and techniques
necessary to the rapid and efficient production of materials
and equipment required for defense"•
Adolescent youth are being urged to train for definite
skills to meet the needs of this country. Mr. R. G. Wagenet,^^
state director of employment of the State of California,
announced in the Los Angeles Times of June 23, 1940, that
plans were being made to retrain California’s unemployed
skilled workmen to meet increasing labor demands by industries
engaged in the nation’s defense program. Although no general
labor shortage exists in California at the present time,
Wagenet said that "increased production in defense industries
will place a heavy demand for skilled workers."
According to Mr. Wagenet, "the availability of such
workers in specialized occupations assumes new importance in
view of expected industrial expansion. The department under
such circumstances, may have to intensify its efforts to meet
temporary shortages in certain specialized skills in specific
areas.Workers engaged in operations similar to those
Los Angeles Times. June 21, 1940.
L5 Lo8 Angeles Times, June 25, 1940.
^4 Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1940.
55
needed In the industrial mobilization will be given supple
mental training to meet those requirements. They include
carpenters, auto mechanics, plumbers, and craftsmen in trades
closely correlated with the occupations upon which will fall
the ^eatest demand for trained workers.
Wagenet made public a state-wide inventory of 4l5,l40
active job-seekers and concluded that there "is no general
labor shortage at present".
The inventory shows that 145,788 skilled and semi
skilled workers registered and are available for immediate
employment. There are, in addition, 40,855 clerical workers,
72,511 service employees, and 81,690 unskilled industrial
applicants out of jobs. Of the total unemployed surveyed,
127»595» or thirty per cent, are 45 years of age or over. Six
per cent of this total are veterans. Women, the survey dis
closed, predominate in the clerical occupations with 25,705
applicants. The 81,690 applicants from unskilled labor total
twenty per cent of those registered, with 93 per cent of this
group being men. The ratio of juniors and workers over forty-
three is higher proportionately in this classification than in
any other similar g r o u p .^5
The above figures indicate clearly that the trend of
thought as reflected in the war situation has increased many
Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1940.
56
fold the importance of definite vocational training both for
our unemployed youth and other unskilled industrial applicants
who are out of jobs.
Unemployment situation. The American youth have been
maladjusted for a long time due to the fact that America is
maladjusted. When America’s problems are solved, the problems
of youth will have greater possibility of being solved. When
the adults of America adopt a social-economic system that is
in complete accord with the technological age in which we live,
youth’s problems will probably become less acute and less
complicated.
It is, therefore, most essential that vocational guidance
for American youth be made a most needed addition to the curri
culum to assist the younger generation in planning their studies
so as to aid them in finding employment in later life. This
is the opinion expressed in a survey report by the California'
State Relief Administration after months of work in ascertain
ing just what is being done in this direction. The report
sets forth:
1* Youth needs more vocational guidance to become a
part of the modern world.
2. Schools must develop more sources of occupational
information.
3* More teachers and counsellors must be trained to
57
guide students into paths leading toward jobs.
4. Schools should keep better track of their former
students and graduates in order to determine whether or not
the training they received helps them obtain work.
5. More placement assistance is needed in schools to
help students find jobs.
6. Rural schools particularly need more counselling
and job placement facilities
Another article appeared recently in the Los Angeles
Times in which Mr. Hoover expressed the viewpoint that he
considered the "youth problem" as one of the most serious
aspects of the unemployment situation in this country today.
Mr. Hoover, as quoted in a recent newspaper, contended that a
basic factor in unemployment is the failure of the public
schools and higher educational institutions to equip boys and
girls for the job of making a living. He believes that with
a vast national defense program calling upon industry for huge
and intensified production, only a few of these graduates will
be able to render any practical service. "Book learning" will
not do the work that must be done to equip this country with
guns, planes, ships, munitions, and materials. He emphasizes
the fact that if the hundreds of thousands of our youth are
to be utilized for their own profit and that of the nation in
16
Los Angeles,Times, February 5, 1940.
58
carrying out our great defense plans, they must be trained
from the ground up. One of the pressing problems confronting
us today is the forging of a link between schools and jobs.
Present economic structure of society. Changing world
conditions and the swift-moving war events of the last few
months have had a marked effect upon the world in which we
live. It is, therefore, exceedingly difficult to predict what
may happen in the next few months or the next few years. It
is certain that world frontiers are changing so rapidly that
all civilized peoples will be forced to meet the changed situ
ations of life. Only those who have learned to analyze every
problem they meet, to find out what facts are necessary to
solve their problems, and learn to profit from the experience
of others are the people who can withstand the shocks of a
chaotic world when a new order evolves as a result of the
present conflict. It, therefore, seems to the author that our
various educational programs will be tested as never before,
and that our vocational guidance experts as well as our adult
education teachers should plan a program that will help every
citizen to analyze and solve his own problems, problems that
are current and real in his life today.
The author is inclined to agree with the statement made
by Mr. Howard A. Campion :
,If the America of tomorrow is to be more enlightened,
happier, better than the America of today, it will require
59
a continuous attack on the problems of today and tomorrow
and not a laborious search of the records of past genera
tions. We have not reached an end of genius and inventive
ness. We yet have much to do toward the improvement of
the physical, the social, and the human world in which
we live.^7
The new trend of thought seems to point in the direction
of a learning that must continue throughout the life of each
individual because of the rapid changes our world demands.
In years past, few people were willing to study after they
had finished their specified courses. Today one cannot afford
to give up studying no matter in what occupation he is engaged.
Adult education is just attaining the maturity which
enables it to provide honest and genuinely functional,
cultural, civic, physical, and vocational education.
The years of opportunity are immediately ahead. With a
national consciousness that old methods are not solving
new problems comes a willingness on the part of our citi
zens to find a greater satisfaction in life-long learning.
In this willingness lies the promise of a nation that will
not be satisfied with anything less than a dynamic progress
toward a better brotherhood of man— a nation which, with
the power of an ever-inquiring, ever-learning citizenry,
will continue to seek better relations among men, greater
personal realization, greater competency, and greater
happiness.18
It is perhaps somewhat encouraging to note the optim
istic tone of many of our leading educators in the face of
present world events. Most magazine articles, newspapers, and
current books emphasize most strongly the great need for ex
tending vocational training for all youth and adults and for
Howard A. Campion, "Forward with Adult Learning,"
Los Angeles School Journal, May 13, 1940, p. 8.
1® Loc. cit.
60
impressing upon all people the extreme necessity of early
training for whatever occupation the person wishes to take
up. It seems to the author that it is only through more and
more extensive education of a practical nature that we can
hope to improve the present economic structure of society.
At least, the unemployment problem which we have faced for
so many years will be met more easi-ly if industry can absorb
that part of the population which has been idle for such a
long time.
CHAPTER V
ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN FOUR SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS
Introduction. Four high schools were selected to be
subjects of a study of the attitudes of high school teachers
of vocational subjects toward vocational education and its
social values.
The schools selected were the Frank Wiggins Trade
School as a sample of a definite vocational school teaching
only vocational subjects; Belmont High School representing a
poor community— a mixture of white and foreign population;
Manual Arts High School as representative of a comfortable,
middle class community; and Fremont High School, representing
a poor industrial community.
The teachers that were interviewed were contacted in
the following four departments in each school : the industrial
arts department, auto and metal trades, commercial department,
and the department of home economics. Each school uses a
little different terminology but as far as possible, the inter
views were limited to these four fields since it was not con
sidered practical to interview teachers in other departments
for the purposes of this thesis. If time would permit, it
might be valuable to interview teachers of other departments
to see how they feel toward the whole vocational education
movement and what attitudes they would reflect.
62
FRANK WIGGINS TRADE SCHOOL
Enrollment. The Frank Wiggins Trade School has an
enrollment of 7,194 students, which is the highest of any
preceding year. It meets a definite need in the community
because it has contributed to successful economic adjustment
not only of those placed on jobs but also of about two thou
sand who received a training record card that certified com
petence to hold a job at some occupational level.
The enrollment, 7,194, is the highest of any previous
year. Unfortunately, all that apply eligible for train
ing cannot be accommodated. Present facilities must be
enlarged for both day and evening schools to render the
service this school can most profitably give.^
Need in the community. From the report of the above
bulletin, the following statement may be significant:
The demand for practical vocational training is more
pronounced than ever. More intelligence on the job and
broader preparation for the specific vocational training
that must be secured is emphasized by every one of the
forty-one advisory committees that counsels this school.^
The writer has not attempted to interview all the
teachers at this school but has selected to interview the
teachers in the departments of food trades, clothing trades,
cosmetology, printing trades, and industrial arts. There were
fourteen interviews held in which some interesting findings
^ Bulletin, Frank Wiggins Trade School, Builders of
Craftsmen, Los Angeles, California, 1938-39, p.. 4.
2
Loc. cit.
63
were noted.
Teachers of food trades » Out of four food-trades teach
ers interviewed all were favorable toward vocational education
and all were agreed as to its practical value. One teacher
made the statement that "a student who is a misfit in one
vocation is a misfit in all other vocations".
Another teacher made the statement that the food-trades
industry is a very practical one because students are placed;
in industry very quickly if they have mastered the essentials
of the Job for which they are being fitted. All the teachers
in this group were very positive in their attitudes toward
their Jobs because they felt that they were filling a very
definite need in present-day society.
Cosmetology teachers. The interviews that were held
with four cosmetology teachers brought to light different atti
tudes ._ The teachers in this course favored teaching cosmeto
logy "more than anything else in the world. There is the
satisfaction of helping others. Students take their courses
very seriously and there is no problem of discipline at all."
One teacher disclosed the fact that she had become
"a teacher of cosmetology" because she had specialized in the
subject for fifteen years. She had formerly owned three shops
of her own. She liked to; teach cosmetology because she had
made such valuable contacts with her students and had felt that
64
she was rendering a valuable service. She commented::
TO my mind, cosmetology presents some wonderful oppor
tunities. Some students wish to travel to different parts
of the world so they may learn cosmetology. One student
went as far as New Zealand where she was able to obtain a
job. Another student came to Frank Wiggins Trade School
to learn methods and succeeded in applying her knowledge
to opening a shop in Honkong, China.
The above reports show the definite value of cosmetology
in the world of industry from an educational and economic
standpoint♦
Teachers of commercial radio, printing, and building
trades. Interviews that were held with teachers of the com
mercial radio field, printing trades, and building trades
revealed the following facts : -
1. All teachers definitely favored teaching vocational edu
cation.
2. Vocational education definitely meets the needs of present-
day industry.
3. The high school or college student can make faster progress
than one with less training, and can get better jobs.
4. Vocational education is more practical than regular high
school training.
5. Students take their courses very seriously.
6. Teachers feel that the contacts that they make with stu
dents are very valuable.
7. Students have an opportunity to develop their personality.
8. The principal attitude of the student is in terms of
65
getting a job.
9. Teachers, for the most part, like their jobs because the
students take their work so seriously and because the
work is of such a definite and practical nature.
10. The teacher’s sense of values is changed from the econo
mic to the "service" value.
11. Many of the teachers place emphasis on values gained from
courses, as values of good citizenship, correct health
practices, and an understanding of the social order.
12. Further extension of the vocational education program to
the regular high schools is advocated.
13. Belief that vocational education is a very strong link
between a high school education and industry.
14. Belief that there is "too much over-crowding" today of
"white collar" jobs and not enough people being trained
for production or for practical jobs. Industrial jobs
should be placed on a "par" with white collared jobs.
Homer J. Smith in the April number of the Industrial
Arts and Vocational Education Magazine suggested the follow
ing improvements for the State of Minnesota ;r
1. That general and vocational education draw closer
together.
2. That day and evening programs become generally blended
3. That industrial arts and trade training be less
clearly differentiated.^
^ Homer J. Smith, "Broadening Responsibilities in
Industrial arts," Industrial Arts and Vocational Education
Magazine, April 1940, pp. 142-43.
66
L. H. Dennis, executive secretary of the American
Vocational Association says:
This country is rapidly becoming vocation education
conscious. While there has been a marked expansion in
the vocational educational facilities of the country under
public auspices, the demand for such facilities is much
in advance of the development. The whole program of
occupational adjustment is being broadened to include
guidance, specific occupational training, placement,
follow-up, retraining, and readjustment activities.4
Auto and metal trades teachers. An interview held
with a teacher of the auto and metal trades has disclosed
some interesting factors that have not yet been brought out
in this paper. This teacher is one hundred per cent in favor
of vocational training. He advocates a broad general education
and favors the opinion that students who have had that type of
training make better auto mechanics than those with a more
limited training. Many of the students that enroll have had
two years at a junior college and usually get ahead faster
because of their background and knowledge of chemistry, physics,
and mathematics. A boy should receive thorough training and
understanding of all the parts of an automobile before being
placed in employment. Boys should not be trained to small
specific tasks as they were in 1927 and 1928, but they should
get a comprehensive training in a particular field which is
most essential today to meet the increasing demands of industry.
4 L. H. Dennis, "Vocational Education for Adults," Ameri
can Association for Adult Education, Handbook of Adult Educa
tion in the United States, 1956, pp. 5l7-^^.
67
This line of thinking coincides with a panel discussion
which was held at the American Vocational Association Confer
ence at Grand Rapids, Michigan, oh December 6, 1939» in which
the recommendation was made that "training he directed to the
development of versatility of skills in order to facilitate
transfer from one job to another, especially on the level of
semi-skilled e m p l o y m e n t " .5
Teachers of commercial and industrial arts and lettering.
Interviews with teachers of commercial art, industrial art,
and commercial lettering may be of significant interest.
First, teachers have changed their whole sense of
values. They formerly thought in terms of "making money",
but teaching has changed their entire philosophy of life. They
speak now in terms of giving a maximum amount of service to
their students rather than earning a certain amount of money
designated as a salary.
Second, teachers enjoy a certain feeling of security
not experienced in other occupations.
Third, teachers of vocational education fill a very
definite need in the community.
A comparison of the attitudes of these teachers of vari
ous trades shows that there are some significant attitudes
^ "Conference American Vocational Association," School
Life, 25:149, February, 1940.
68
held in common. These may be summed up as follows:*
1. All teachers held the positive attitude that vocational
education should be taught in the schools.
2. All teachers favored a broad general education as a def
inite help toward a comprehension of vocational training.
3. All teachers considered vocational education as a definite
means of security to young people, especially in terms of
getting a job.
4. All teachers agreed that it was much easier to place in
industry students who have had the opportunity of a prac
tical training than to place those who have had only a
general education. In other words, they believed the
courses of the trade schools to be more practical than
those of the academic high school.
5. The attitude prevailed that industrial jobs fill an im
portant need in the existing social order today and that
"white collar" jobs should be less emphasized.
BELMONT HIGH SCHOOL
Enrollment. Belmont High School has an enrollment this
year of 2,240 students, with a graduating class of 365* The
school population is comprised of two-thirds white Americans
and one-third other nationalities., mainly Mexicans, Japanese,
and Negroes with a few Italians, Jewish, Polish, and Gzeks.
This community is constantly changing with Negro, Japanese,
69
and Mexican students on the increase. Approximately one-
fourth of the student population is forced to hold part-time
jobs out of school hours in order to attend school. This
school represents a cross-section of students whose parents
are mostly unskilled laborers such as small shop-keepers,
laundry workers, foundry workers, and other similar occupa
tions. But they are extremely industrious and eager for their
children to get ahead.
At Belmont High School twenty interviews were held.
In addition, the questionnaire method was used. It was con
sidered advisable to use both methods for the purposes of
contacting a greater number of teachers and also for getting
the true attitudes of high school teachers as revealed through
personal interviews.
The questionnaire on teacher attitudes. The following
questionnaire was submitted to ten teachers:
QUESTIONNAIRE ON ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
TOWARD VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND ITS SOCIAL VALUES
1. Do you favor teaching vocational education to your stu
dents? Why?
2. What is the main purpose of your course?
3. How did you happen to choose vocational education as your
teaching interest? • *
4. Why are you interested in your particular subject?
5. Would you rise to defend vocational education if threats
were made to remove it from your school?
70
6. What do you like best about vocational education?
7* What do you like the least?
8. Do you advocate vocational training as a necessary part
of the curriculum? Why?
9. Are vocational courses practical? Why?
10. Are there any weaknesses in the vocational education
idea?
11. What personality traits are necessary to develop for
success in your particular course?
12. What cultural background proves helpful?
13. What technical training is needed?
14. What opportunities are there for desirable employment?
15. ^o you believe in an apprentice program after students
leave school?
16. What opportunities do you have for creative thinking?
17. Gould anybody succeed in your occupation?
18. If you could change to another occupation what would it
be?
19. Do you consider training in academic subjects more valu
able than specialized training, or vice versa?
20. Do you believe in a combination program of both cultural
and specialized programs?
21. Does the present structure of society warrant an "increased"
or "decreased" specialized program? Why?
22. Do people with definite vocational training have better
opportunities for employment than those with little train
ing? Why?
23. Do the present changing trends in society make it more
difficult to keep your courses abreast with the times?
71
Responses to the questionnaire. In answer to question
(1) all favored teaching vocational education because of its
practical value and because it helped the student to earn his
own "bread and butter".
Question (2) revealed that the main purposes of the
courses in vocational education were to help get a job, to
understand the business world, and to receive valuable voca
tional training.
‘ Question (3) revealed that instructors chose the def
inite line of work that they were teaching because of their
interest in it.
Question (5). A n the instructors would rise to defend
vocational education.
Question (6). Two teachers liked vocational education
because of its practical value, ^our liked it because they
enjoyed seeing their students make progress, ^our teachers
said that vocational education training helped students get
a job.
Question (8): Dp you advocate vocational training as
a necessary part of the curriculum?
"Very necessary in the present-day society* In the
commercial department it is valuable in compiling government
reports
Question (11) : What personality traits are necessary
to develop for success in your particular course?
"Honesty, accuracy, neatness, and ability to get along
72
with people."
Question (14) : What opportunities are there for desir
able employment?
"Well trained people have a better opportunity than
those not so well trained."
Question (19)s you consider training in academic
subjects more valuable than specialized training, or vice versa?
"Yes, for the more intelligent student; the mediocre
students should have an opportunity to grow and develop."
Question (21) : Does the present structure of society
warrant an "increased" or "decreased" specialized program?
"Warrants a decreased specialized program in the high
school. Advocate more schools like the type of the Frank
Wiggins Trade School."
The above answers represent the most valuable informa
tion that could be obtained from this questionnaire. Several
answers were omitted because they were not considered valid
enough to be reported.
The commercial arts department. Many interesting facts
were obtained from the personal interviews. The following inter
view with one of the typing teachers was recorded : -
"Ninety per cent of the students who leave high school
and college will enter some field of vocational work, even if
trained for another vocation.
"There is a recognized need today for commercial train-
73
ing. Even in small business, the government is compelling
the owner to keep accurate reports involving a knowledge of
typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping.
"Students are not taking their work seriously enough.
There seems to have been a general let-down because students
do not like to work very hard. California girls do not hold
as good jobs as girls from our large eastern cities because
they are usually not as well prepared."
Another typing teacher thinks "it teaches the studentsa
self-control, calmness, and develops poise. It also develops
honesty, concentration, speed, and self-reliance."
All teachers in the commercial department defend "com
mercial teaching" because of its definiteness as to subject,
because of the positive type of teaching, and because it
teaches the students to depend upon themselves.
Teachers of home economics and industrial arts. Both
the teachers in the home economics departments and in the in
dustrial arts departments seemed to agree on the following points:
1. More intensive training for all vocations and more thorough
preparation are needed.
2. General high schools should keep in close touch with in
dustrial organizations more like the procedure followed
by the leading trade schools in our larger cities.
3. Additional emphasis should be placed on character educa
tion, even at the same time that vocational education is
taught. Any boy or girl can make good in vocational edu-
74
cation if he will apply himself to the job and be per
sistent .
4. Belief obtains that the point of view toward education in
general is changing so rapidly that it is exceedingly dif
ficult to keep abreast with the times.
5. Teachers engaged in different types of teaching have en
tirely different attitudes, usually based upon the field
of work in which they are engaged. The viewpoint of the
commercial teacher is entirely different from that of the
teacher of mathematics.
Teachers of shop-work. In interviewing six teachers
in the shop-work department, the following attitudes were
prevalent and rather significant :
1. That they would like to see a greater expansion of the
program of vocational and pre-vocational work in the gen
eral high school.
2. That vocational courses were practical and meeting a def
inite need in the community.
3. That the students with a higher grade of intelligence get
more out of their courses than those with lower intelligence.
4. That all academic subjects were helpful when taken along
with vocational work.
Summary of teacher attitudes in BOlmont High School.
In making a comparison of the attitudes of the teachers in the
75
various departments of the school, the following attitudes
were revealed as being similar in their trends of thought:
1. All teachers favored teaching vocational education because
of its practical values.
2• All teachers advocated vocational training because it
helped students get jobs.
3. All teachers believed that vocational training should be
a very necessary part of the curriculum today and that the
program should be expanded in all general high schools to
meet the present needs.
MANUAL ARTS HIGH SCHOOL
Enrollment. Manual Arts High School has an enrollment
of 3,240 students. Tj^ere are six hundred students graduating
this year. It represents a typical middle class community
with few foreign-born students. For the most part, the parents
are either employed steadily in clerical or similar jobs, or
are the owners of small shops in the community. It is consid
ered a very comfortable, middle class community of average
economic level. About one-third of the students of the school
are doing part-time work to help defray their school expenses.
Methods of research. In finding out the attitudes of
the teachers at this school, both the questionnaire method and
the interview method were used. The same questionnaire that
76
was used at Belmont High School was used at Manual Arts High
School for the purposes of comparison.
Home economics department. In the home economics de
partment, five teachers were interviewed.
In answer to question (1): Do you favor teaching voca
tional education? Why?, the answers were;
"Yes, definitely, for its practical value. It trains
girls to be home-makers and to go out into the world."
"It gives girls a start on a vocation."
"Yes, it trains future home-makers in skills and man
agement of the home, and gives a definite knowledge of con
sumer education."
In answer to question (8); Do you advocate vocational
training as a necessary part of the curriculum?, the following
responses were given;
"Yes, very necessary for students who must earn a living
on leaving high school and those who are not able to attend
the university."
"No. I do not advocate vocational training as a nec
essary part of the curriculum. It can be given to the student
later when he knows just what he wishes to take up."
"Yes, vocational training is especially valuable for
students who are unable to get university training."
In answer to question (9)î Are vocational courses
practical? Why?, the answer was that they were very practical
77
because they try to meet the need of the students and develop
skills necessary to follow a definite vocation.
In summing up the attitudes of teachers, reflecting
their reactions toward their courses, all agreed that their
own courses were most important. They had chosen to engage
in a particular type of teaching because they were more inter
ested in that'field of work than any other.
All teachers interviewed in this department were of the
opinion that home economics possessed a definite practical value
The attitudes of most of the teachers seemed to be that home
economics should be taught to boys as well as girls. One
teacher stated that these courses should be taught "only as
home-making courses in the general high school" and that voca
tional work in this field should not be taught until the stu
dents reached the trade school. Another teacher said that she
considered her sewing classes as merely "exploratory" and
that "the girl who shows definite adaptability is advised to
pursue her courses further by attending Prank Wiggins Trade
School."
Commercial arts department. The aim of the commercial
arts department is purely vocational. The practical value of
the courses is to fit students for jobs and to make them use
ful members of society.
78 ■
The students of this department are given definite
commercial training with a view toward placement in jobs.
Although the school does not maintain a definite placement
bureau, one teacher in the commercial department keeps a list
of all students enrolling in her classes. A typed record is
kept of the age of the student, kind of help wanted— perman
ent or temporary— , experience, courses pursued, and type of
position the student can fill. Excellent results are obtained
-in placing students directly from this department which has
been functioning for the past four years.
In interviewing the teachers in the commercial depart
ment, some significant attitudes were found :
In answer to question (1): Do you favor teaching voca
tional education to your students? Why?, the answers were;
"Yes, it provides a tangible asset for those who must
work."
"It is useful to students for their own personal needs
and is of practical value in earning a living."
"Students should be job conscious. Therefore, they
should acquire some skill in definite subjects."
"Yes, to prepare them more adequately for jobs which
many of them will seek upon graduation from high school."
In answer to question (2): What is the main purpose of
your course?, the following responses were given : :
"To develop personality and to teach the student the
79
technique of selling himself, his services, his ideas, or his
merchandise
"To train people for positions."
"To help get a job."
"To teach skills— typing, shorthand, bookkeeping,
salesmanship
"To teach skill, character, and citizenship."
"To prepare students to enter the business world."
"To prepare for office jobs."
In answer to question (3): How did you happen to choose
vocational education as your teaching interest?, the answer
was either because it had such practical value, or because
they liked it.
In answer to question (4): Why are you interested in
your particular subject?, the following attitudes were ex
pressed : '
"Enjoy working with young people."
"It is definite in purpose."
"Courses are practical."
"Teaches accuracy and neatness."
In answer to question (6): What do you like best about
vocational education?, the following answers were given : :
"Its usefulness as a tool subject."
"Students are interested in it."
"It is definite and concrete."
80
"Its practical application."
"It enables pupils to prepare for some specific vocation."
"It develops a sense of security and a feeling of in
dependence
In answer to question (8); Do you advocate vocational
training as a necessary part of the curriculum?, many inter
esting comments were made. A few are here quoted at random.
"Very necessary for present-day conditions, especially
in accountancy, for compiling government reports."
"Yes, it is well for most people to do something with
their hands— if only for the purpose of employing their lei
sure time."
"Prepares students for some specific vocation."
"Yes, because the present state of society demands
training of a practical nature."
"Yes. To benefit students who need to go to work upon
graduation and cannot afford to go to college."
"Should be valuable even for strictly academic students."
"Yes, every person should have a definite skill in order
to qualify for a job."
In summing up hew teachers of commercial subjects felt
regarding vocational education, the following tendencies seemed
to come to light : :
1. That well trained people have a better opportunity to get
jobs than those of inferior training.
81
2. That there is a great demand for well trained students
in the business world.
3. That a college-trained person who has specialized in
business subjects has a good opportunity for advancement
because of his broad general background.
4. That opportunities for employment are influenced by the
trend of the times. The general opinion seems to be that
opportunities in the business world are on the increase.
5* That people with a skill to offer are more employable.
One capable of doing "anything" is of little worth.
6. That training in a definite skill was most valuable in
terms of earning a living, in developing a sense of se
curity, and developing in the students desirable character
traits and worthy ideals of citizenship.
Shop-work department. At Manual Arts High School there
are nine shop-work classes directly organized under the Smith-
Hughes plan. The following shops were visited by the writer
to understand the set-up of each and to interview the teacher
in charge : Machine shop, auto mechanic shop, sheet metal shop,
wood shop, pattern shop, print shop, bindery department,
foundry, and welding shop.
It was learned that the aims of the program in this
department were to prepare for apprenticeship in trades and
to become skilled craftsmen. The regular vocational course
usually takes three years to complete fully. The first six
82
months are usually given over to two periods a day for shop
work and the remaining time for theoretical work pertaining
to the course chosen* Regular vocational work is taken for
the next two and a half years. When the hoys are graduated,
they are usually sent out as apprentices. In addition to the
nine Smith-Hughes classes which are run on a three-hour a day
basis, there is one pre-vocational class a day for each shop.
This class is open to undergraduate students who may choose
shop work as an elective.
An interview with the teacher of the sheet metal class
was recorded as follows ;
"Current trends today seem to point sharply toward
vocational education. People are beginning to realize that
everyone cannot hold "white collar" jobs.
"Persons that work with their hands and brains are
more superior than those that are academically minded. They
are more valuable than the one-sided person because they have
learned to do two things. They have good opportunity for
job placement, especially during the last few months of in
creased war demands."
An interview with the pattern shop teacher disclosed
the following facts :
"There is a definite need today for vocational training.
The average age of the worker in this field today is forty-
eight years. In a few years these men will be dropping out
so there will be a need for trained men to replace them. All
83
students who complete their courses satisfactorily in this
department are definitely assured of a job because of the
urgent need."
The teacher in the auto mechanic shop believes that
the trend of the times is such, especially during war times,
that vocational training will be made compulsory since we are
in need of more mechanics. During depression, vocational work
was at a very low ebb but it now calls for a great deal of
speeding up.
The teacher of the electric shop department advocated
vocational work as being most important. He asserted that if
more boys were trained for jobs that there would not be as
many on the W.P.A. It was his opinion that more intelligent
boys should be encouraged to take up this type of work instead
of sending to this department the "dull" students who could
not succeed in academic work.
An interview with the cabinet shop teacher disclosed
some very interesting findings:
First, he is heartily in favor of vocational education
because of its practical values.
Second, according to his knowledge, all-round courses
demand highly skilled students.
Third, he believes in a satisfactory apprentice program
since one must remember that the apprentices of today are the
leaders of tomorrow.
84
Fourth, men with exceptional knowledge of. their trade,
with ability to apply the theories involved in it, and cap
able of accepting responsibility are in demand as journeymen
for foremen, superintendent, and other executive positions.
The school counsellor was also interviewed. "People
are getting too old to work," he said, "and on account of the
fact that no skilled labor is being Imported from Europe, there
will be a shortage in the next few years. Hence, there is a
definite need for young people to train in vocational work so
that they may be ready to take "bread and butter" jobs when
the opportunity arises.
"Vocational courses are very practical and decidedly
so during the last few months because of specific war require
ments. The demand has far exceeded the supply. About two
or three weeks ago, the entire graduating class in the aviation
department had been placed in jobs. In fact, placement has
been very steady within the last six months."
Most of the placement for this school is done through
the efforts of the teachers themselves and mostly through per
sonal contacts. The teachers advocate advising highly skilled
students who are capable of applying the theories involved in
their field of interest and are capable of accepting respon
sibility to take up this work.
851
FREMONT HIGH SCHOOL
Enrollment. Fremont High School has an enrollment of
thirty-seven hundred students, mostly white with a few Chinese
and Japanese, an increasing number of Italians, and no colored
students. It represents a cross-section of a poor industrial
locality where the parents are mostly unskilled workers and
are struggling to "make both ends meet".
Type of school. This school is called a vocational
high school, specializing in vocational subjects. It is the
largest high school in Los Angeles. When the school first
started in 1924, the population was mostly white and the
economic level was fairly average. During the last few years
more of the poorer class have been moving in, with the result
that more vocational classes have been necessary. Most of the
graduates of Fremont High School are sent to Los Angeles City
College or Frank Wiggins Trade School to take additional work
in those cases where more time can be spent in preparation.
. In addition, John Fremont offers an academic course to
give a cultural background and to meet the requirements for
college entrance. The commercial curriculum offers courses
in bookkeeping, clerical work, salesmanship, and stenographic
work. The household arts curriculum offers courses for those
girls who desire to major in those appreciations, ideals,
habits, and skills which contribute to a satisfying home life.
86
The industrial arts curriculum offers courses for those boys
who wish to major in mechanical work.
The Smith-Hughes vocational industrial curriculum
offers courses for those boys and girls who wish to enter
trades and who wish both a high school diploma and a trade
certificate when they graduate from high school. The follow
ing courses are offered : vocational architectural drafting,
vocational auto mechanics, cosmetology, dressmaking, vocational
electricity, vocational machine shop, vocational mechanical
drafting, vocational mill cabinet, vocational photography,
vocational printing, power sewing, vocational sheet metal, and
vocational structural drafting.
Gommercial arts department. In interviewing the teach
ers of the commercial arts department some very important
findings were made.
In answer to the question. Do you favor teaching voca
tional education to your students? Why?, of the eight teach
ers interviewed all were in favor of training in the commer
cial field. The reasons given were:
"Parents belong to the low income groups and need the
earnings of their children as early as possible to help supple
ment the family budget."
"Training in vocational work is very necessary because
the students cannot afford to go to college."
"Favor vocational education courses because it takes
87
as much intelligence to train for jobs in the business world
as it does to take up college preparatory work."
- In answer to question (2); What is the main purpose of
your course?, such answers as the following were recorded as
results of personal Interview ;
"The importance of vocational training and job prepar
ation cannot be over-estimated."
"Vocational education should be a very definite part
of the curriculum because, due to economic reasons, it is so
essential that students be trained to hold jobs. Most parents
earn very small wages and are dependent upon their children
for financial assistance."
In answer to question (8); Do you advocate vocational
training as a necessary part of the curriculum?, all teachers
agreed that most subjects that are taught today should have a_
definite vocational value and that students should be given
definite business training according to their mental ability.
There are a variety of courses offered— a clerical course for
those of less mental ability, and a secretarial course for
students who can succeed better in more difficult types of
office work.
Smith-Hughes vocational industrial curriculum indust
rial arts classes. These classes function under the Smith-
Hughes plan. Boys and girls are given definite training for
jobs and as soon as they are fitted, they are given part-time
88
employment in dressmaking establishments, housework, serving,
and gardening.
Advanced classes in designing and sewing are conducted
for those who wish it. Several teachers were interviewed to
obtain their attitudes toward vocational education.
Ninety-five per cent of the teachers favored teaching
vocational education classes. Five per cent favored teaching
these classes but were of the opinion that girls who were
turned out as apprentices should get higher wages.
All teachers agreed that the fashion business was
world-wide and that because there was always a demand for
clothes, that the dressmaking field had good opportunities
to offer to the girl that showed ability in that type of work.
In answer to question (8): Do you advocate vocational
training as a necessary part of the curriculum?, the answers
were one hundred per cent in the affirmative, particularly
because Los Angeles was rapidly becoming a style center and
because so many students showed a genuine interest in taking
this type of work as a means for livelihood.
Vocational classes in shop work. There were ten teachers
interviewed in this department. The writer made short visits
in each class and was particularly impressed with the practical
courses which were being given, the great number of students
enrolled, the fine training and Instruction which was offered,
the seriousness of the students, and the strict attention to
89
business which were evident. The following conclusions were
reached as the result of these interviews :
1. Vocational education is recognized as filling a definite
need of youth and the community.
2. Vocational education should be encouraged especially dur
ing times of war emergency..
3. Greater programs of expansion should be undertaken.
4. There should be provision for more extensive equipment.
5. More boys should be trained for definite jobs so there
would be less unemployment among the youth of the nation.
6. Vocational education should be given a prominent place
in the high school curriculum.
A few questionnaires were submitted to teachers in the
household arts and industrial arts departments. Their reactions
revealed that they were in favor of both vocational and pre-
vocational work for students, that they preferred teaching
their courses to any kind of work which they could have chosen,
and that they felt that the "bread and butter" aim or job pre
paration was the most important reason for teaching these
courses•
SUMMARY OF ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
AS REVEALED IN FOUR DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOLS
Points of similarity. - 1. Teachers in all four of the
schools have a favorable attitude toward vocational education.
90
2. Teachers in all parts of the city hold the attitude of
"job-mindedness". They make it emphatic that preparation
for jobs is one of the most important aims of education.
3. Teachers agree that less attention should be given to
"white collar" jobs.
4. Intensive vocational training for skilled trades should
receive a very high place in the present educational
system.
5. Vocational education has definite social values.
Points of difference. 1. Attitudes of teachers show
marked differences in different occupational fields.
2. Each of the four schools differ in size, in type of local
ity, and in student population.
3. Vocational courses differ in each school. Courses are
adapted to meet the needs of the pupils of each community.
4. In one school it is the belief that vocational training
should be made compulsory for all students. The three
other schools that were studied did not hold this point
of view.
CHAPTER VI
SIGNIFICANT TRENDS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
I. PRESENT TRENDS
1. Preparation for jobs. The general trend in voca
tional education points toward giving major attention to the
complicated problems confronting youth and to the most impor
tant problem of preparation for jobs. The bread-and-butter
motive is considered a most important factor in preparing the
individual to take his place in society because it is only
through success in industry that an individual can seek happi
ness, which is the highest achievement of civilized man.
2. Youth problem. The youth problem has been studied
both by the federal and the state agencies. One hundred and
sixty-six surveys have been made in which different findings
have been disclosed concerning the causes of unemployment and
the reasons for the maladjustment of American youth.
A generation or more ago, the majority of youths merely
drifted into occupations, largely through a trial-and-
error process. There were relatively few occupations from
which to choose.T
Lyle Spencer, Director of SSience Research Associates,
and Robert Burns have been conducting a series of articles for
William Scanlon and H. A. Weinberg, "Excursions to
Local Industries— Their Possibilities for Vocational Guidance,"
Social Studies Magazine, 30:76, February, 1939.
92
the last six months in the Los Angeles Sunday Times Magazine
entitled "Finding the Right Job", in which they have revealed
the following facts which they have based upon research:
There are 20,000 ways to make a living and, given facts
enough to base their job-hunting upon, more and more people
should be able to fit themselves into work that they’ll
enjoy. Most people have an idea that they're ’cut out* for
just one job, when as a matter of fact they could probably
do any one of a dozen just as well as they’re doing now.
A youngster thinks of three or four things that he may do
when he gets through school. There are probably twenty
other kinds of work that would suit him as well if he
knew about them.
3. Problems of guidance. The guidance problem of youth
has engaged the time and thought of many leading educators,
business executives, and job analysts for many years. It has
been brought closer to the minds of people in all walks of
life by the world-wide depression which started in the year
1929 and has continued steadily to the present with various
fluctuations, upward and downward trends, and changes in govern
ment policies both at home and abroad.
4. Gounselling programs♦ The schools have been doing
a valuable piece of work in their counselling programs, mental
testing, and vocational guidance programs as functioning -through
the educational research departments of large city systems.
Unfortunately, the youths of rural districts have missed a
great many of the advantages that have been afforded the popu
lation of urban communities.
P
Lyle Spencer and Robert Burns, "Finding the Right
Job," Los Angeles Times Magazine, June 24, 1940.
93
Today school guidance programs are helping the child
to fit his ambitions more closely to his abilities and the
needs of society. The broadest challenge to guidance today
is to bring children up to believe that the useful things at
which they can succeed best are not beneath them. Youth is
therefore encouraged to fit themselves for jobs of a practical
nature in whatever type of work in which each feels he may
best succeed, instead of preparing for "white collar" jobs
which either do not exist or have been over-emphasized in
recent years.
Research reveals that the school program needs some
readjustment as suggested by many of the leading thinkers in
this field.
5* Vocational efficiency.
In a world of unemployment and economic insecurity, it
is becoming more and more obvious that the schools must
give some attention to vocational efficiency. In schools
' today the trend is away from ’spot* advice to children
from teachers and other adults. The trend is toward the
guidance of children gradually to evolve their educational
and vocational choices in the light of cumulative evidence
concerning their relative strengths and weaknesses.^
Dr. Richard Gonant, President of Harvard University, in
a charter-day address to the students of the University of
California said that he believed that rapid improvement in our
testing methods must be forthcoming. He advocated a much more
^ Vernon Jones, "Guidance, a Challenge and a Rallying
Point," The Educational Record, 20;589~99, October, 1939.
94
conscientious and discriminating form of educational guidance
if the nation wants to bend its efforts toward having as free
and classless a society as possible.
Just as a farmer cannot Cultivate crops in the same
manner, so the modern educator cannot cultivate human
abilities by the same methods. It is the mockery which
some of the present college generation apply to the phrase
’equality of opportunity* which presents the major chal
lenge to the educational system today— a challenge which
can be met only by a radical reconstruction.^
6. Character and personality adjustment♦ Another
important trend is the emphasis on character and personality
adjustment. Interest and occupational efficiency will not
guarantee job success if there are personality maladjustments.
This tie-up with vocational success provides excellent motiva
tion for a school program which includes character and person
ality development. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon
this very important point.
7 . Trends in business and professions. Current trends
of vocational education have been frequently revealed in recent
articles of the daily newspapers. The following article which
appeared in the Los Angeles Evening Herald of April 15» 1940,
has revealed some interesting findings :
Occupational trends in business and professions during
the past several years were the topic of three keynote
speakers who opened the fourth annual conference at the
^ Dr. Richard Gonant, article, Los Angeles Times,
March 26, 1940.
95:
University of Southern California in which working con
ditions in various occupations were reviewed, salaries
were outlined, and chances for advancement were estimated*5
8. Importance of specialized training. Another article
which appeared in the Herald on April 14, 1940, headed "Job
Outlook Better for College Men" may be valuable to shed light
upon our present trend of the need for specialized training.
College graduates will be lucky this June. It will
be easier for them to get jobs because employers* atti
tudes toward giving positions to college men has become
much more favorable. Furthermore, there are more jobs
available now than there have been since the "gay twenties"
In a number of fields the university cannot supply the
demand for trained students in spite of the increased
number of those studying the professions. This is parti
cularly true in the fields of architecture, engineering,
accounting, and pharmacy
The above trend signifies clearly the importance of
specialized training and the need of skilled workers in any
branch. This study aims to reveal the importance of vocational
education and its social values particularly in the present
changing society.
Even the radio programs today emphasize most strongly
the need for vocational education in the public schools. Dr.
Kitson of Columbia University in a radio broadcast during
March, 1940, stated that the three basic interests most essen
tial to keep a job are: (1) human control, (2) general intelli
gence, and (3) trained skill.
^ Los Angeles Evening Herald, April 15, 1940.
^ Los Angeles Evening Herald. April 14, 1940, article
entitled "Job Outlook Better for College Men".
96;
He pointed out that many persons today cannot hold their jobs
because they have an inferiority feeling. He believes that:
the youth of tomorrow should try to show the right attitude
toward society and try to improve their personalities. He also
stressed ability and skill'in human control as most important:
factors.
Nearly every magazine and newspaper of''importance stresses
the need for vocational education. Benjamin Fine reported the
following in the New York Times of February 18, 1940 ; :
"Incapacity of airplane school of New York City Board of Edu
cation to admit all applicants. Graduates find that ’not only
is work available but the rate of pay is high* Graduates?
find jobs at higher rate of pay than graduates of technical
high schools..
William Scanlon and H. A. Weinberg have written an
article which the writer believes to give an interesting clue
to the present trends of thinking regarding the importance of
vocational education ; :
One of the problems confronting youth today when he
graduates from high school is finding a job. We hope
that as time goes on the boy or girl will'pass from as
state of financial dependency to a level of economic'self-
sufficiency. In order to reach this state as quickly as
possible, it is paramount that every effort be made to
guide these young people into those positions where their
services are most needed and which will give them the
highest economic return, while at the same time enabling
them to enjoy a well-rounded life.®
^ Benjamin Fine, "Aviation School Turns Away 5P0,"
Occupational Index, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1940. p. 5*
o
William Scanlon and H. A. Weinberg, op. cit., p; 76.
97
9. Occupational and social needs. Another current
trend of significant importance is that attention is being
given to the occupational and social needs of young people
entering the highly mechanized occupations in the industries,
by providing additional vocational and educational preparation
which will assist them to advance when they find themselves
in types of work that do not provide for advancement in occu
pational status or give security in earning power.
A radio broadcast over station KHJ in Los Angeles on
May 26, 1940, given by Dr. Harry J. Kitson, Professor at Colum
bia University and editor of Occupations magazine, stated the
following interesting trends ; :
1. Mor*e vocational guidance is needed for occupations in trades^
2. The work of the job counsellor should be made more impor
tant. Job counsellors must study men's capacities and
find out for what they are best fitted.
3* Greater opportunities exist in industry for well trained
and well adjusted people than for those not well trained.
4. Success in one's job depends upon accuracy, professional
competency, and the ability to get along with people.
10. Population trends. Decline in the birth rate has
caused the population of this country to undergo a series of
basic changes. Changing trends in population growth affect
the available supply of labor and will probably affect the
98
nature of the demand for commodities and services and hence
of job opportunities. The declining birth rate will ulti
mately affect the school population which is constantly de
creasing while the increasing working age of the population,
together with technological changes, will probably bring about
the need of an adequate retraining program.
II. FUTURE TRENDS
It is impossible to forecast the future trends of
vocational education with certainty, especially in view of
present changing world conditions. Humanity is demanding a
sense of security and dignity based on human values. Conditions
are changing so rapidly outside America, established institu
tions are being overthrown, that it is difficult to predict
what the future will be for this country.
Future trends in light of present-day forecasts.
In the light of present-day forecasts as revealed by leading
industrialists, leading political leaders, and foremost think
ers, the writer has reached the following conclusions regard
ing future trends as worthy of reflection:
1. That vocational education is bound to expand greatly as
necessitated by war defense programs►seems evident.
2. That new types of occupations will result from greater
expansion programs,is probable.
99
3. Opportunities for job placement are bound to increase with
the increased war emergency program.
4. Promising opportunities will probably be found in enter
prises dealing with creative ideas and work in science,
mechanics, and aviation.
5. As the armament program increases, it will probably stimu
late business activities so that outlook for business
during the next few years will have fewer uncertainties.
Future trends as indicated by New York Board of Educa
tion . It might be pertinent to quote a few future trends as
indicated in the Board of Education publication of the City of
New York which was published in 1938. This report was written
by a group of twenty-four principals of vocational high schools
in which they predict the following tendencies.
1. "Professional groups will be the most rapidly growing ones.
Clerks will be next in rate of growth.
2. "Farmers are expected to continue to decrease in number.
3. "The trend from the manual to white collar occupations is
likely to continue.
4. "Within the manual class it is expected that the manually
skilled will grow more rapidly than the semirskilled and
unskilled. The unskilled will probably show an absolute
decrease in numbers.
5. "The secondary school period will have to adjust its offer
ings to give a general and vocational education that will
100
be of greatest value to future workers.
6. "The school will have the responsibility of properly
training and guiding pupils to adjust themselves to the
changing pattern of occupational opportunities.
7. "Science, invention, and machines will increase. As a
result, many workers who do not take heed of the trend
of the time and who do not'train properly will be unem
ployed.
8. "We may expect better distribution of goods, better dis
tribution of wealth, and higher standards of living."^
Ill. COMPARISON OF PRESENT AND FUTURE TRENDS
In making a comparison of present and future trends,
it is significant to note that so many points of similarity
exist. Both trends of thought seem to point in the direction
of expanding the vocational education program in the schools
and in giving a general and vocational education program that
will be of greatest value to future workers.
^ Thirty-ninth Annual Report of Superintendent of Schools,
City of New York, "Vocational High Schools, Trends and FBre-
casts" (Board of Education, City of New York, 1938), p. 41.
CHAPTER VII
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary of findings. An attempt has been made to study
certain definite attitudes of a selected group of highly
trained teachers. Before studying the problem, the whole field
of attitudes was surveyed to determine whether it had any re
lation to the topic selected. After it was determined that these
attitudes could"be analyzed, a study was made to find out what
is-meant by vocational subjects. It was then the task of the
writer to find out the meaning of "vocational education" and
to make an analysis of the entire field before proceeding
farther in this study.
Since the topic of this thesis is "The Attitudes of
High School Teachers of Vocational Subjects toward Vocational
Education and Its Social Values", the next important step was
to determine the meaning of a "value" and to distinguish be
tween "a value" and "social values". Research was therefore
made in this field.
The primary sources used have been the personal inter
view method and the research reading method. The secondary
source has been the questionnaire method. The study has been
limited to four selected high schools of different scope, size,
and cultural background. Four different educational depart
ments have been analyzed— the commercial, industrial arts, food?
102
trades, and auto and mechanics trades.
It has been necessary to limit the study to a choice
of vocational subjects since time would not permit making a
study of the entire vocational field in its broad sense*
As a result of this study, certain findings have been
made which the author hopes will prove of some value.
1. Although vocational guidance in its earliest beginnings
started as a private enterprise, it has now been almost
entirely transferred to the schools.
2. Vocational education courses occupy a very important place
in the present order of society.
3. Vocational education courses have definite social values
since they prepare youth to earn a living, to become
socially adjusted, and to become useful citizens of the
present social order.
4. High school teachers show favorable attitudes toward
vocational education.
5. The life career motive in the process of education is a
most important one and should be recognized earlier than
the present school curriculum provides.
6. Trade schools are doing a very important piece of work.
There is a need for their further expansion.
7* General high schools are enlarging upon vocational educa
tion courses. The teachers would favor further extension
along those lines.
103
8. A cultural background still fills a very important need
in the curriculum, but high school teachers favor a com
bination of academic and specialized training.
9, Vocational education courses should assist the average
American family to adjust itself to new complex systems
of living through effective guidance, placement, and
adj ustment programs.
10. Youth should be given instruction during the high school
period of vocational opportunities so that they will not
prepare for jobs which do not exist.
11. Youth should be encouraged to stay in school longer in
order to become experts in the several fields and to con
tinue the learning process indefinitely.
12. Greater opportunities exist in industry for well trained'
and well adjusted people than for those of inferior train
ing.
Research reveals that the present structure of society
can be improved by more extensive education of a practical
nature. It has been revealed that'one of the major causes of
unemployment is the maladjustment of the individual due to lack
®f preparation for a job, or wrong placement in a job. High
school teachers today strongly advocate that greater attention
bust be given to the preparation of its students for occupa
tional efficiency. It is only through specific training in
specialized skills that vocational efficiency can be acquired.
104
satisfactorily•
In view of present changing world conditions, it is
not possible to forecast the future trends of vocational edu
cation. It does seem, however, that in the light of present
forecasts that more need will be felt for vocational education
and vocational guidance. Regarding its social values, the
writer is inclined to think that it cannot be emphasized too
strongly since the "socialized” or "integrated" personality
is recognized as the most highly desirable individual today in
the present mode of living.
Qdnclusions. In an analysis of the attitudes as revealed
by high school teachers interviewed and discussed in Chapter V
of this thesis, certain conclusions have been reached which the
writer hopes may shed some light on this topic for research.
These conclusions may be considered fairly accurate since enough
sampling was done to warrant the following-statements.
1. Teachers in all schools reveal a favorable attitude toward
vocational education.
2. Teachers agree that more attention should be given to
teaching practical subjects and less attention to general
subjects.
3. Intensive vocational training for skilled jobs should
receive a very high place in the present educational system.
4. Vocational education has definite social values which may
be termed as cultural, civic, and occupational.
105
5. All teachers believe that vocational education is bound
to expand greatly, necessitated by the war defense program.
6. Teachers seem to favor a greater period of extension of
the school program but believe that less attention should
be given to training for "white collar" jobs.
7* Most teachers agree that both general and specialized
education are important but that there should be a happy
combination of the two.
8. The purpose of teaching vocational education is to train
students to earn a living.
9. More opportunities should be given to high school students
to learn definite trades.
10. All teachers would rise to defend vocational education if
threats were made to remove it from the community.
11. All teachers showed a genuine interest in their work be
cause they wished to render a valuable service to the com
munity.
12. Vocational education should be a very strong link between
the high school and industry. There should be closer co
operation between industrial leaders and school educators.,
General attitudes of vocational education teachers.
As a result of research done in attempting to find out attitudes
of high school teachers toward vocational education, the follow
ing personal attitudes toward the occupation of teaching have
appeared of significant valhe to the writer.
106
1. The attitude of specialist mindedness as revealed by the
personal interviews.
2. The attitude of the role of leader. The teacher feels
the importance of his job as revealed in many answers to
the questionnaire.
3. The attitude of authority mindedness. The teacher is ex
perienced in certain skills and develops the habit of
"speaking with authority" to convince his students of the
feasibility of the course he is attempting to teach.
4. The attitude of practical mindedness in their assurances
that these courses are very important.
5. The attitude of job mindedness.
6. The attitude of service mindedness. Teachers are very
eager and anxious to serve their students. Show a deep
civic responsibility.
7. The attitude of security mindedness. All teachers feel
a certain definite security toward their jobs.
8. The attitude of efficiency mindedness. Teachers think
"first and foremost" in terms of their own efficiency in
their jobs and in terms of the efficiency of their students
in their work.
9. The attitude of serious mindedness. Most teachers empha
size the need of taking their work seriously, particularly
so that the students may gain some real value from their
courses.
107
10* The attitude of culture mindedness. Teachers show this
attitude in all their different lines of thinking.
11. The attitude of civic mindedness. All teachers agree
that vocational work is important and valuable as a safe
guard to the welfare of a future democracy.
The writer has found that many of the conclusions
reached as a result of the personal interview method of research
have coincided with the leading trends of thought of present-
day writers. It is rather difficult to keep up with the latest
trends of thought since affairs of the world have been changing
so rapidly during the past few months. It seems to the writer,
however, that the present programs of national rearmament and
war defense are bound to bring to the forefront the importance
of increased training in vocational education. Concerning the
future it is impossible to predict accurately.
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chological Clinic, 19:201, December, 1930.
Humke, H. L., "Experiment in Measuring Changes in Pupil Atti
tudes," Indiana University School of Education, 10:5-11,
December, 1933 #
Ieke8, H. L ., "Need for Vocational Education," School and Soci
ety, 37:754-5, June 10, 1933#
Jones, Vernon, "Guidance, A Challenge and a Rallying Point,"
Educational Record, 20:589-99, October, 1939#
116
Keller, F. J., "New Frontiers in Guidance," Occupations, 12:
3-8, Pt. 2, March, 1934.
Kitson, H. D., "Questions They Have Asked Me and t^e Answers,"
Occupations, 12:33-6, January, 1934.
Likert, Rensis, "A Tcohniquo for the Measurement of Attitudes,"
Archives of Psychology, Vol. 22, No. 140, 55 pp.
Mathewson, R. H ., "Training for a Job," Scholastic, 28: *15,
February 1, 1936.
Mattier, A. P., "Clear Thinking through Use of Vocational
Subjects," California Journal Secondary Education, 11:61,
January, 1936.
McIntosh, C. E., "Relation of Vocational Education to the Pre
sent Youth Problem," High School Journal, 19:120-4, April,
1936.
Moore, H. V ., "Objective Methods in the Personal Interview in
Vocational Guidance, Psychological Clinic, 19:105-15, June,
1930.
National Education Association, Committee on Vocational Educa
tion, United States Education Bulletin 21, pp. 23, 36, 42-9.
Occupations, the Vocational Guidance Magazine. New York:
National Occupational Conference, 1933. Six volumes,
XIII-XVII, June 1933-June 1939.
Parsons, F., "First Report of Professor Frank Parsons," Voca
tional Guidance Magazine, 9:81-3, November, 1930.
Pulliam, R., "How Far Shall the Sdhool Go in Teaching Social
Attitudes?" Educational Administration and Supervision,
23:651-5, December, 1937.
Rankin, T., "Place of Research in a Guidance Program," Voca
tional Guidance Magazine, 9:380-4; May, 1931.
Remmers, H. H., "Measuring Attitude toward the Job," Occupa
tions, 14:945-8, June, 1936.
Scanlon, William and H. A. Weinberg, "Excursions to Local
Industries--Their Possibilities for Vocational Guidance,"
Social Studies Magazine, 30:76, February, 1939.
117
Smith, Homer J., ’ ’Broadening Responsibilities in Industrial
Arts,” Industrial Arts and Vocational Education Magazine,
1 :l42-3, April, igWT"
Snedden, David, ’ ’Coordinating General High School and Voca
tional Education,” Vocational Education Magazine, 1:535,
No, 5, January, 1923*
Spiegler, S., ’ ’Recent Occupational Trends,” Occupations, T7;
333-4, January, 1939*
Stone, C. L., "Personality Factor in Vocational Guidance,”
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28:274-5,
October, 1933*
Strong, Edward K., "Aptitudes versus Attitudes in Vocational
Guidance,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 18:561, August,
1934.
Studebaker, J. W., "Education for the 85 Per Cent," Industrial
Arts and Vocational Education, 27:179-82, May, 1938*
Symond, Percival M,, "What Is an Attitude?” Psychological
Bulletin, 24:200-1, March, 1927*
Trabue, M, R., "Bridging the Gap from School Days to Work,”
Nations School, 20:30-2, September, 1937*
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Monthly Labor Review, 49:1411, December, 1939*
"Vocational High Schools, Trends, and Forecasts,” 39th Annual
Report of Superintendent of Schools, City of New York.
New York: Board of Education, 1938.
Walter, D. V., "Attitudes and Vocational Information," Social
Studies, 29:23-24, January, 1938.
Wilson, L., "Extent of Change in Student Opinions and Atti
tudes,” Sociology and Social Research, 20:552-8, June, 1936.
Wood, Herbert S., "Commercial Education, Its Place in High School,"
Los Angeles School Journal, 23:9, May, 1940.
Young, P., "Vocational Commercial Education Is Essential,"
J ournal Business Education, 11:11-12, November, 1935*
118
C. UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS
Anderson, J. A., "Fitting the Vocational Course in Commerce
to the Needs of a Particular Community." Unpublished
Master’s thesis. The University of Southern California,
. Los Angeles, 1926, 74 pp#
Bedford, James H., "A Study of the Vocational Interests of High
School Students Based on Survey of Secondary Schools."
Unpublished Doctor’s dissertation. The University of South
ern California, Los Angeles, 1934, 261.pp.
Bogardu8, Emory S., lecture notes, course in "Occupational
Attitudes and Values". The University of Southern California.
Burger, Alice, "Vocational Guidance in the Light of Recent
Technological-Social Changes.” Unpublished Master’s thesis.
The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1939,
131 pp.
Ingrum, Emmett W., "An Analysis of Professional Literature on
Current Trends in Vocational Education." Unpublished
Master’s thesis. The University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, 1938, 108 pp.
D. NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Los Angeles Evening Herald, April 14, 1940.
_______, April 15, 1940.
Los Angeles Times, February 5, 1940.
_____, March 26, 1940.
_______ , June 21, 1940.
_______ , June 23, 1940.
Los Angeles Times Magazine, June 24, 1940.
New York Times, February 18, 1940.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Klepak, Anna Adelson (author)

Core Title A study of the attitudes of high school teachers of vocational subjects toward vocational education and its social values

School Department of Sociology

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Sociology

Degree Conferral Date 1940-08

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Vincent, Melvin J. (committee chair), Neumeyer, Martin H. (committee member), Weersing, F.J. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c39-346301

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Identifier EP65620.pdf (filename),usctheses-c39-346301 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier EP65620.pdf

Dmrecord 346301

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Klepak, Anna Adelson

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

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Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA