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Schaefer, Carl J., Ed.; Kaufman, Jacob J., Ed.Vocational-Technical Education; A Prospectus forChange.Northeastern Univ., Poston, Mass. Coll. of Education.Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education, Boston.67171p.; Papers presented at Symposium (Boston,November 28-29, 1967)Advisory Council on Education, 102 Tremont Street,Boston, Massachusetts 02111 ($1.00)

EDRS Price MF-$0.75 HC-$8.65Administration, Advisory Committees, *ConferenceReports, Curriculum, Economics, Educational Change,*Educational Needs, Guidance, history, ManpowerUtilization, *Program Development, Psychology,Sociology, *Symposia, Teacher Education, TechnicalEducation, *Vocational EducationMACE, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Advisory Councilon Education

ABSTRACTTo seek resolution of problems in providing

education for youth and adults oriented toward the world of work, theMassachusetts Advisory Council on Education (MACE) undertook a studyof vocational-technical education as a major project. Thispublication contains the major papers and prepared reactions to thesepapers, which were presented at a 42,member conference, andconstitutes the basis for a report announced as ED 029 107. Majorpapers were: (1) "Vocational and Technical Education--Its Meaning" byC.J. Schaefer, (2) "The Development of Vocational Education inAmerica: An Historical Overview" by V.P. Lannie, (3) "A BehavioralView of Vocational-Technical Education" by J.W. Altman, (4)

"Sociological Perspectives and Vocational-Technical Education" byM.B. Sussman, (5) "Decisions for Vocational reucation: An Economist'sView" by M.J. Bowman, (6) "Manpower Analysis and VocationalEducation: Problems and Perspectives" by I. Berg, (7) "Vocation,Education, and Guidance" by P.C. Hummel, (8) "Vocational Education:Is It More Than Education for a Vocation?" by B. Shimberg, (9) "TheSocial Context, Poverty, and Vocational Education" by R.A. Gibboney,(10) "But Readjust We Must -- Teacher Education" by E.L. Minelli andT.M. Beaton, and a concluding statement by J.J. Kaufman. (DM)

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VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL EDUCATION

A Prospectus For Change

Edited by

Carl J. Schaefer

and

Jacob J. Kaufman

Advisory Council on EducationThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Boston

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The publication herein it, the result of a contract made by the AdvisoryCouncil on Education to Northeastern University, College of Education.Additional copies can be secured for $1.00 from the Advisory Council onEducation, 102 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02111.

PREFACE

One of the overiding problems facing Massachusetts is providing education for youth andadults oriented towards the world of work.

Recognizing this, the Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education undertook a study ofVocational-Technical Education as one of its first projects. This publication contains the majorpapers, and the reactions to these papers, which were presented at a symposium conducted bythe study staff In Boston on November 28, and 29, 1967. The scope of these papers constitutesthe basis for a forthcoming report intended to suggest how to make education more relevant tothe needs, interests, and aspirations of all children and youth.

The Commonwealth has a pioneering history in vocational education. Under the leadershipof former Governor William L. Douglas, the General Court adopted a system of industrial educa-tion as early as 1905. As a result, Massachusetts became the first state to provide free industrialeducation. The Advisory Council's Vocational-Technical Education Study represents another stepin that pioneering tradition.

This interim publication was assembled by Carl J. Schaefer, Chairman, Department ofVocational Education, Rutgers University, and Jacob J. Kaufman, Director, Institute for Researchon Human Resources, Pennsylvania State University, Director and Co-director of the present study.It represents the work of many individuals who prepared the materials and served as discussantsand observers. This report is a group effort and the credit for it belongs to the symposium part.-cipants.

The most promising features of the symp)sium and the papers were interchange, communi-cation, and focus on the problems of education of youth who will become productive members ofsociety. The concern of all participants, regardless of academic orientation, illustrates thateducators need not live and work in isolation. A combined approach to the problems we face will'may benefit all.

A Prospectus for Change is intended to provide the reader with a broad perspective onoccupational education. This interim document will be followed by the final report of the Vocational-Technical Education Study.

William C. GaigeDirectorAdvisory Council on Education

CONTENTS

PREFACE ii

INTRODUCTIONVocational and Technical Education -- Its Meaning

by Carl J. Schaefer

HISTORYThe Development of Vocational Education in America:

An Historical Overviewby Vincent P. Lannie

1

5

REACTION 21by Theodore Brameld

PSYCHOLOGYA Behavioral View of Vocational-Technical Education

by James W. Altman25

REACTION 40by Rhoda W. Baruch

SOCIOLOGYSociological Perspectives and Vocational- Technical Education. . 45

by Marvin B. Sussman

REACTION 31by Neal Gross

ECONOMICSDecisions For Vocational Education: An Economist's View . 65

by Mary Jean Bowman

REACTION 82by Michael J. Piore

tit

MANPOWERManpower Analysis and Vocational Education:

Problems and Perspectives 86by Ivar Berg

REACTION 97by Morris A. Horowitz

GUIDANCEVocation, Education, and Guidance 103

by Raymond C. Hummel

REACTION 109by William C. Kvaraceus

CURRICULUMVocational Education: Is It More Than Education For A Vocation? 113

by Benjamin Shimberg

REACTION 131by Nathaniel H. Frank

ADMINISTRATIONThe Social Co Alexi, Poverty, and Vocational Education 135

by Richard A. Gibboney

REACTION 140by John E. Deady

TEACHER EDUCATIONBut Readjuat We Must -- Teacher Education 144

by Ernest L. Mine Ili and Thomas M. Benton

REACTION 155by James J. Hammond

CONCLUDINX1 STATEMENT .. 159by Jacob J. Kaufman

PARTICIPANTS 162

iv

INTRODUCTION

Carl J. Schaefer*

VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ITS MEANING

The quest for knowledge has always been, and will continue to be, a driving force. Man hasdistinguished himself as a vast consumer of the "stuff" that makes for his intellectual well being.The educator, in his broadest role, has been the facilitator of the vast array and accumulation ofman's intellectual stock pile. The educator holds the key position to disseminate knowledge bothin kind and amount. Undoubtedly it was the dilemma of the "kind and amount" of education thatprompted C. P. Snow (1063) to present his epic Lecture on the two cultures -- exemplified by human-ists and the physical ecientists.1 To Snow, the humanist at one pole and the physical scientist at theother, represented the extremes to which education has gone in our modern society. Snow developsthe thesis that the dichotomy has grown so great that these two groups are working at what seems tobe cross purposes which is dangerous, perhaps fatal, for civilization.

The educator (especially in the sec-ondary school) appears to be placed squarelyin the middle of the forces that have the re-sponsibility to develop the intelligence of theindividual. It is not e mere dilemma of howto educate, but what to educate for. It ismore of a dilemma of the means by whichpublic education can meet the needs not onlyof "all the boys and girls" but also of all thepeople so as to assure them a productive yetrewarding part in our present day society.It is the "whole" individual of Dewey and the"education for life" of Presser that concernsSnow and others like him. Such a plight re-quires the skill of the alchemist to compoundthe knowledge of the sociologist, the psycho-logist, the economist, the historian, andothers so as to effectuate a successful processof education for all who are locked into thesystem. In recent years educators in general

have stubbornly ignored the contrihuttona ofthose disciplines that relate to the daily needsof boys and girls. Communication betweeneducators and those from related disciplineshas never flourished, and the present periodIn which public education sees itself makesthe void in communications even more appar-ent. It is time that these social and behavior-al scientists, representing a distinct body ofknowledge, make known their contributions tothe educational endeavor. Precisely slated,the problem is to make education relevant tothe needs of all boys and girls. And, bychance, if one should think this is not theproblem, the test is obvious -- just ask youthitself,

To develop the point still further,society needs to be reminded that there ismore than one means to an education. Theclassical notion, that college is the pinnacle

Dr. Schaefer is Prefessor of Education and Chat, man, Department of Vocational-TechnicalEducation and Director of the Mastoachusetts Study on Vocational and Technical Education.

2

of attainment for all, overshadows the effortsbeing made to provide for those who neitheraspire to, nor can achieve at, the collegiatelevel. John Gardner, Secretary of Health,Education, and Welfare, has said:

An excellent plumber is infinitelymore admit able than an incompetentphilosopher. The society whichscorns excellence in plumbing becauseplumbing is a humble activity andtolerates shoddiness in philosophybecause it is an exalted activity willhave neither good plumbing nor goodphilosophy. Neither its pipes norits theories will hold water.

Education then, can well become rely-va..lt to youth who suit status through excel-lence in plumbing. When educators recognizethis and communicate the needs of educationto both future plumbers and future philosophersthey will earn the right to stand between bothcultures.

VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL. EDUCATION

The specific question is: what is therole of vocational and technical education' inmeeting the needs of boys and girls? Grantedthat a large percentage of youth will pursueemployment upon graduation from high school,James B. Conant has pointed out that:

. . . the academic talented pupilsconstit4.0 not more than 20 per centand often not more than 15 per centof the student body in the type ofschool l titT1 discussing. What aboutthe courses that ought to be electedby the other 85 per cent or so of thestudent body? To answer the ques-tion in a few words and to over-simplify a complex issue, I wouldsay that the :`her pupils should electa consistent program directed towardsthe development of a specialized talentor a vocation. (1958)

We are then dealing with a large per-centage of youth and not the mere eight to tenper cent as presently representing vocationaland technical education nationally. This clear-ly indicates that the magnitude of the problemis far greater than most have realized or theeducation community has been ready to admit.The problem takes on even greater meaningwhen it is realized that today, out of everyten youngsters who enter first grade, threewill not finish high school some twelve yearslater. Of the seven who do graduate from highschool, three will go to work immediately andfour will enter college and only two of the fourwill graduate with a baccalaureate degree. Inother words, two out of the original ter. willachieve as Conant predicts.

By definition, vocational educationperceives itself as something far greater thanthe mere acquisition of manipulative skills.The U. S. Office of Education, defines it asfollows:

Vocational Education helps to givedefinite purpose and meaning toeducation by relating training tospecific occupational goals. It ismore inclusive than training forjob skills. It also ievelopesabilities, understandings, attitudes,work habits, and appreciations whichcontribute to a satisfying and pro-ductive life. (1957)

Desplt' this definition the fact is thatmany educators, the public, and even parentsassociate the manipulative aspect almostentirely with vocational eductlion. Moreove,-,it is evident that vocational educators them-selves have not made clear that vocationaleducation need not create a dualism in oureducational system. Unfortunately the evid-ence of separate vocational schools impliesat least some dichotomy when actually voca-tional education should be an integral part ofa well rounded program of education aimedat the development of youth for full participa-tion in society.

Most of the contributors in this volumehave also viewed vocational education in thisbroader sense and not merely as a means fordeveloping specific skills. They have viewedvocational education as a "way of learning"and not as an end in itself.

THE RELATED FIELDS

Probably the greatest untapped resourceto be employed to make education relevant tothe needs of youth has been the contributionsof what has been called the related disciplines.Unfortunately, many educators themselveshave been prepared in a narrow or restrictedsense. This is not to say they do not 'mowsubject matter. Nor is it being suggested thatthey become social and behavioral scientists.But it is being said and suggested that educa-tors need the help of those within these disci-plines. Such help has heretofore not beensolicited.

It is for this reason that the paperspresented in this volume were prepared. Acareful reading of these papers reveals that,in an historical sense, this country tends todevelop the appropriate legislation to meet theneeds of societ'- of the day. It is apparentthat the Smith-Hughes Act and the VocationalEducation Act of 1963 came as a response to

FOOTNOTES

3

the demands of certain groups in our society.It might require that, in 1968, five years afterthe latter legislation was enacted furtherchanges in the law are necessary.

An examination of the papers from thebehavioral and social scientists indicatessubstantial support for the substitution ofbehavioral objectives in education rather thanspecific skill objectives. It is recognized thateducators, like other decision-makers, arefaced with limited resources which must becarefully allocated among alternative objec-tives. Manpower needs are explored and therole that guidance can play in the educationalsystem is discussed at length.

If vocational education, as many of theseminar participants suggest, is to move innew directions the curriculum must he re-examined and innovative curricula must bedeveloped. Administrators and teachers alikemust be trained to meet these new educationalobjectives. All of these issues are also dis-cussed in this volume.

The authors of the various papers pre-sent some rather provocative notions. Woventhroughout will be found not only a willingnessbut also an outright commitment to assist inthe very endeavor to which all educators arededicated -- the making of education relevantto the needs of our youth.

1Rede Lecture at Cambridge (May 1959).2The term "vocational and technical" is usually used in a singular sense when spoken of

in the profession.

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Conant, James B. Some Problems of the American High Schools address before theNational School Board Association, 18th Annual Convention, Miami, Florida, July 15, 1968.

Office of Education, Public Vocational Education Programs, Pamphlet 117 (Washington,D. C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1957), p. 1.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures: and A Second Look, New York, The American Library,1963.

HIISTORY

f

Vincent P. Lennie*

THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA:AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

"Americans have always loved a fair" declares Lawrence Cremin in his The Transformationof the School, and the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 was no exception. The UnitedStates was in the process of making great strides since the Civil War and its citizens evinced agreat national pride as they moved about the Exposition's pavilions. Schoolmen were impressedparticularly with the educational exhibits which documented over half a century of education pro-gress. But it was he Russian exhibit which stole the show, converted two American educators,and became a cat, yst for vocational education in the United States.

The Imperial Technical School of Mos-cow, founded in 1868 and under the directionof Victor Della Vos, achieved a breakthroughin vocational education. Before this tirae,students received theoretical instruction in"construction shops" where they worked alongside paid workmen in producing marketablegoods. Because Della Vos thought thisapprenticeship system to be ineffective as wellas inefficient, he organized "instruction shops"as a necessary prerequisite before studentscould work in the "construction shops. " Indeveloping this innovation, he maintained thatthe mastery of any art-drawing, music, paint-ing--was attained "only when the first attemptsare subject to a law of gradation, the pupilfollowing a definite method or school, andsurmounting, little by little and by certain de-grees, the difficulties encountered." Sincea method of study had been elaborated forthese arts, reasoned Della Vos .,13 he madehis pedagogical leap, why could not "a logicalmethod of teaching . . . (the) m...cnanic arts"be evolved that would benefit students and givepractical instruction to workers as well.1

With this idea in mind, he organized separate"instruction shops" for carpentry, joinery,blacksmithing, and metal turning. Each shoppresented a course of graded exercises in alogical order and according to their difficulty.In the same way were arranged the appropri-ate models, drawings, and tools for eachmechanical art. No attempt was made to applythe exercises or the tools in constructing anyuseful article, and in time the "constructionshops" were removed from the school. DellaVos became convinced that the course ofstudies followed in the "instruction shops" ob-viated the need for the apprenticeship trainingof the "construction shops."

In the United States, John D. Runkle,President of the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, faced many of Della Vos' pro-blems but had arrived at no adequate solution.At M.I. T. , he observed that students who hadpractical training readily found po ..itions aftergraduation while those who had none requiredadditional apprenticeship training before theycould secure a job. But while examining

*Dr. Lannie is Associate Professor of Educational History, New York University

5

6

models dealing with chipping, filing, forging,and machine tool work at the Russian exhibit,he "saw at once that they were not parts ofmachines, but simply graded models for teach-ing the manipulations in those arts." At oncethe solution to the problem came to his mind;"a plain distinction (existed) between a mechan-ic art and its application in some specialtrade . . "2 Immediately Runkle decided thatM. I. T. must construct shops in the samemanner that science laboratories were builtand further judged that the manual arts mustbecome a part of the public school's generalprogram of education. In a report that he gaveon "The Manual Element in Education," heplaced manual training on a philosophicalrationale by declaring that it constituted "theonly true and philosophical key to all industrialeducation." If the arts of any particular indus-try could be formulated into an educationalmethod, he reasoned, "we have only to groupabout these art courses such other subjects ofstudy as obviously pertain to this industry tohave a scheme which shall most surely anddirectly fit the student both in theory and prac-tice to enter upon its pursuit. " As soon as hereturned to M.I. T. , Runkle persuaded thetrustees to establish several "instruction shops"for engineering students as well as a secondary"School of Mechanic Arts" to give instructionin the manual arts "for those who wish to enterupon industrial pursuits rather than to becomescientific engineers. "3

The other convert to Della Vos' view-point had been in the process of conversion be-fore 1876. Calvin M. Woodward, Professor ofmathematics and applied mechanics at Washing-ton University in St. Louis and later Dean ofthe University's Polytechnic School, quicklylearned that his students had very little practi-cal knowledge about mechanical tools. Whenhe discovered that his students could not evenvisualize simple mechanical forms, he attempt-ed to show them how to use these tools with noparticular vocational goal in mind. During theearly 1870's, Woodward developed his ideas atWashington University -- ideas which receivedmore definite form as a result of studying theviews of D311a Vos and Runkle. Woodwardacknowledged that Russia had "solved the

problem of tool instruction "" and had made ita science. While others had agreed "thatpractice in using tools and testing materialsshould go hand in hand with theory,'" it wasRussia that "first conceived and tested theidea of analyzing tool practice into its elementsand teaching the elements abstractly to a class."Here was a radical departure from the appren-ticeship system under which "the learner ac-quires the 'arts' involved in a piece of workincidentally, and generally without a consciousanalysis. "4 In manual training schools whichWoodward hoped would be established, the"arts" would be made the "direct object of astudent's attention" and "their subsequentcombination (which may or may not follow inhis school experience)" would be relativelysimple. Nor would such instruction in themanual arts be narrowly utilitarian, for Wood-ward insisted that manual training belongedwithin the general school curriculum and thatinstruction in a particular trade was too narrowfor such a purpose. In fact, the purpose ofWashington University's Manual Training Schoolthat oper.ed in 1880 was to abstract the mechani-cal processes, manual arts, and all necessarytools, implement this goal into a systematiccourse of instruction, and then incorporate itinto the school's general system of education."Thus, without teaching any one trade, weteach the essential mechanical principles ofall." To the criticism that such an educationwould produce a "'Jack-of-all-trades, butMaster of none,'" Woodward countered that'good Jack-of-all-trades may easily becomemaster of any. "5

iiWith the implementation of Della Vos'

insights by Runkle and especially by Woodward,the manual training stage of vocational educa-tion had its beginning in the United States. Butwhy should it have begun at all? What was dif-ferent in the 1870's from earlier Americanhistory? In essence, the difference was a full-blast forging of post-Civil War America intoan industrial society from its earlier agricultur-al beginnings. Of all the changes that occurredin the country, challenged Jt..hn Dewey in hisThe School and Society, the most important was"the industrial one. "6 Such a change was not

only national but international in scope andnothing short of a revolution. A vast systemof manufacturing centers mushroomed tosupply an ever-expanding national and worldmarket as cheaper and more rapid means ofcommunication and distribution were in theprocess of development. As the nation be-came more industrialized, it became moreurbanized. Within this transformation ofAmerican society, everything seemed to bein a state of flux. Cities attracted millionsof persons, immigrants as well as ruralAmericans. A hideous conglomeration ofhunger, vice, diseise, and crime transform-ed large parts of these cities into ghettos ofgloom and despair. All across the land,many complained that the schools did not meetthe needs of rural or urban youth; they weretoo book-oriented and even this "intellectual"education was more often than not "singsongdrill, rote repetition, and meaningless verbi-age. Youngsters left school as soon as theycould and many of them never completed theeighth grade.

It was obvious also that family lifebecame disrupted as economic and socialdislocation quickened its pace. With thischange in family life, came a change in theeducational functions of the family. Socialsettlement workers such as Jane Addams wereaware of this fact while Dewey repeatedlystressed it in his many writings. Just beforethe turn of the 20th century, Dewey remindedhis readers that it was not distant history"when the household was practically the centerin which were carried on, or about which wereclustered, all the typical forms of industrialoccupation. " In former times, children wereexposed to the complete industrial processesof a variety of articles -- "from the killingof the animal and the trying of fat, to themaking of wicks and dipping of candles. "8Of course, together with the family, Deweycould have added that the apprenticehip sys-tem also had played a crucial role in theeconomic and educational life of a bygoneAmerica. And too, something had happenedto apprenticeship as well as to the familystructure.

7

Apprenticeship had its historical ante-cedents in medieval Europe. In England, themany and varied local regulations and customsconcerning apprenticeship were gradually codi-fied in the 16th and 17th centuriea.9 When theEnglish colonists emigrated to American shoresin the early 17th century, they took the appren-ticeship system with them as part of their"mental baggage" and adapted it according tothe environmental needs of the new world. Al-though English apprenticeship basically pro-vided only a home and some kind of vocationaltraining for those "bound out, " the colonistsstrengthened and extended the dimension ofapprenticeship responsibility. Whether ap-prenticeship was voluntary or involuntary,colonial legislation gradually began to empha-size two interrelated elements in apprentice-ship. On the one hand, children had to betrained in vocationally useful "employments"(and not useless occupations such as the mind-ing of cattle), and on the other hand, mastershad to teach their apprentices a fundamentalliteracy. With this extension, the apprentice-ship system came to be viewed not only as away to supply skilled labor but also as a meansby which youngsters would receive a rudimenta-ry education. The colonial legislation of theperiod, especially in New England, corrabor-ates this point of view. The Massachusettslaw of 1642, strengthened five years later bythe famous "Old Deluder" law, deplored thegreat neglect of many parents and masters"in training up their children in labor andlearning and other employments." As a re-sult, the General Court ordered that negligentparents and masters, under penalty of finesand even removal of children from theircustody, provide adequate vocational trainingand teach them "to read and understand theprinciples of religion and the capital laws ofthe country. "18 This dual training and edu-cational responsibility was more explicitlystated in a New Plymouth Order promulgatedin 1671. Parents and masters were orderedto "bring up their children and apprentices insome honest lawful calling, labour or employ-ment" and to teach them "to read the Scrip-tures, and other profitable books printed in the

8

English tongue and the knowledge of the capitallaws. till Such an educational mandate revealsthe influence of Augustinian dualism upon thecolonial mind, a tradition that marked Christ-ians not only as citizens of the "earthly city"but inheritors of the "heavenly city" as well.Children thus had to become familiar with theircivic responsibilities as well as with theirspiritual obligations to prepare them for thenext and more important life.12

In the new world, therefore, appren-ticeship evolved from a system of trade pre-paration to include an educational dimension;vocational training on the one hand, and civic,moral, and religious instruction on the otherhand. "Apprenticeship was thus not a meremeans of acquiring trade efficiency, " declaresPaul Douglas in American Apprenticeship andIndustrial Education, " but it was a preparationfor citizenship and for life. "13

As time went on, however, manymasters felt hindered by the educational re-quirements of apprenticeship and were inclin-ed to view the system as essentially a sourceof labor. Either they had no time for theseobligations or they simply were not qualifiedto implement them. Increasingly in the 18thcentury, masters began to delegate theireducational responsibilities to formal schools-- usually evening schools -- wherein theircharges would receive "a certain amount ofreading, writing, and ciphering. PI 14 In aninteresting historical turn-about, apprentice-ship took a practical step back to its initialtraining aspect; masters continued to handlevocational training while schools began toinstruct youngsters in a general education.It remained for the first half of the 19thcentury, with its increasing industrialization,to rupture the training aspect of apprentice-ship and plunge it into a painful decline.

Although apprenticeship vocationaltraining continued unhampered up to the open-ing decades of the 19th century, the beginningsof industrial development were clearly dis-cernable by the 1820's. Moreover, America'sinitial stage of industrial transformation wouldnot be completed until the eve of the Civil War.Improvements in transportation, the growth ofcities, and the extension of credit began to alter

the economy. Canals, turnpikes, and laterrailroads helped to bring the population to-gether and thus created large markets formore and more manufactured goods. Thesmall, traditional craft shop of a master withhis few journeymen and apprentices could notsupply sufficient labor for this kind of expand-ing market. As an increasing number offactories began to mass-produce goods forbroad distribution, there grew up a new eco-nomic need for different kinds of workers, Nolonger was the skilled artisan the mainstay ofthe newly-emerging industrial system. Ratherthe need for unskilled workers -- often women,children, and recent immigrants -- becamemore pressing in a system that required phy-sical strength or limited manual dexterity toperform boring and never-changing tasks with-in the new division of labor. To the skilledworker, industrialism appeared as a realthreat. Many traditional occupations becameobsolete while skilled workers in other areasof employment found their wages, status, andindependence in decline. "The wealthy monop-olists are anxious to crush those who are doinga small business and get them out of the way,"bemoaned one observer in the 1840's, "inorder that they !nay fix prices to suit them-selves. "15 "Machinery has taken almost en-tire possession of the manufacture of cloth,"declared the Working Man's Advocate in 1844,and warned that it was making steady progressin other areas of production.16 As mechaniza-tion replaced the craft shop with the moreimpersonal factory, the skilled worker losthis earlier position in the social and economicstructure of society. He no longer sold a pro-duct but began to sell his labor and nothingmore. Owning few tools and possessing noadequate financial resources, both skilled andunskilled workers in pre-Civil War Americarealized that in a very real sense they had be-come wage earners dependent upon a neweconomic system of production.

When factory owners contended that theapprenticeship system was no longer an ef-ficient method to train the thousands of neededworkers, skilled workers closed ranks in anattempt to defend their crafts and their status.In 1830, the New York Evening Journal defended

mechanics (skilled artisans working at acraft within the apprenticeship system) andattacked capitalists for forcing the formerout of business because of "the advantage ofa large capital." The paper attacked thehiring of unskilled cheap labor which pre-vented "the industrious, enterprising, butperhaps indigent mechanic, from followinghis trade to advantage, or from following itat all." Traditional apprenticeship, with itsmethod of advancement, was defended becauseof the desire of the apprentice to become amaster and thus perform outstanding labor.Such a desire "increases and strengthens theappetite to become . . . adept, and gives azest to all his efforts. "17

But neither the Evening Journal norany other newspaper could stem the economictide. Fearful that their social status waswaning in the face of increasing industrializa-tion and a more complex factory system,skilled workmen organized themselves intoassociations for mutual help. Thus, suchcrafts as cabinet makers, carpenters, hatters,tailors, and shoemakers established tradeorganizations. In general, these groups con-demned imprisonment for debt, service inthe militia, paper currency, and banks whileurging a sihrter work week and free publiceducation. Especially was the plea for free,universal, public education aimed at improv-ing equality of opportunity and avoiding anyrigid class stratification. A group of NewYork workingmen felt that all children shouldreceive the same education "under the sameroof . . . where the road to distinction shallbe superior industry, virtue and acquirements,without reference t, descent. "13 In likemanner, Robert Dale Owen, son of the Englishreformer and a reformer in his own right, be-lieved "in a National System of Equal, Republi-can, Protective, Practical Education, the soleregenerator of a profligate age, and the onlyredeemer of our suffering country from theequal curses of chilling poverty and corruptingriches, of gnawing want and destroying de-bachery, of blind ignorance and of unpriacipl-ed intrigue." Conditioned by his own educa-tional experience at Hofwyl, a Swiss school

9

influenced by Pestalozzian principles, Owenbelieved that agricultural and trade studiesshould compose an important part of theschool curriculum. The schools could elimin-ate social and economic distinctions by "com-bining mechanical and agricultural with liter-ary and scientific instruction. By makingevery scholar a workman, and every workmana scholar. By associating cultivation andutility, the productive arts and the abstractsciences. "40

During this same period, mechanicsinstitutes began to provide considerable in-struction in subjects relating to technicaleducation. 21 Related to this movement wasthe work of the lyceums which began in the1820's under the leadership of Josiah Hol-brook. In 1826, he published the manifesto ofthe American lyceum which called for thefurnishing of a universal and practical educa-tion. The main purpose of the lyceum original-ly was to provide practical, scientific instruc-tion for workmen, and thus to prepare a moreintelligent worker and a better product. Thelyceum also became an important ally ofpopular education, and it attempted to includein the curriculum not only literary studies butalso instruction in "useful and practical in-struction. r22 In addition to the mechanicsinstitutes and the lyceums, some people urgedthe establishment of industrial universitiesfor the nation's farmers and mechanics. Sinceneither professional nor military higher edu-cation was deemed suitable for the industrialmasses, these industrial universities wouldmeet the "felt wants of each and all of theindustrial classes of the nation." A seriesof conventions held in Illinois in 1852 and1853 urged that an industrial university beestablished in every state of the union. Eachof them would apply "existing knowledge dir-ectly and efficiently to all practical pursuitsand professions in life, and to extend theboundaries of our present knowledge in allpossible practical directions. "23 With theindustrial university as the center for practi-cal education in each of the states, other andlower institutions such as common schools,high schools, and lyceums could cooperate in

10

an organized and joint effort in practical edu-cation.

Such efforts as mechanics institutes,lycetcus, and the movement for industrialuniversities clearly indicate that traditionalapprenticeship was in a state of deterioration.Although organized labor attempted to defendand regulate it (whereas employers attackedit as wasteful and unnecessary), the ever-increasing industrialism of the 1840's and1850's cast it into a decreasing importance.Thus, if apprenticeship's educational role hadbeen practically eliminated during the 18thcentury, by the eve of the Civil war its voca-tional responsibility had diminished and prov-ed less important as a supplier of skilled laborin the United States. And just as the schoolshad assumed the literacy responsibility ofapprenticeship during the colonial period, soduring the post-Civil War period and theopening decades of the 20th century did theytake over the vocational responsibility ofapprenticeship. Although some questioned theeducational validity of the school's growinginterest in vocational training, the majorargument eventually focused on the best meth-od and curriculum to use in the teaching ofpractical education. In short, the questionshifted from "ought" to "how."

iii

Despite the embittered Chicagoworker who in 1887 denied that America wasa land of opportunity and felt that his "child-ren will be where I am -- that is, if I cankeep them out of the gutter," others who hadachieved success insisted that the UnitedStates was still a land of opportunity. 24 Per-haps it wrts more difficult "to start a newbusiness of any kind today than it was" informer days, admitted Andrew Carnegie, butopportunities still abounded for hard-working,enterprising, and morally upright youngpeople. Most American school books, esp-ecially the McGuffey readers, diligently ex-tolled this "rags to riches" theme and setforth the appropriate criteria necessary forthe quest. Adolescents were provided withthe same thematic fare in the pages ofHoratio Alger's success novels that told of

ordinary but industrious youngsters who rosefrom the bottom to the top of the economicladder. And even older folk could read fromthe bottom to the top of the economic ladder.And even older folk could read the adult ver-sions of this success literature. During the1880's and 1890's, scores of books and man-uals such as The Art of Getting Money, How IMade Millions, The Road to Success, and Tact,Push, and 13, inciple flooded the market to givetheir particular formulas for success inAmerican business. 25 Although the titlesvaried from volume to volume, the advice wasinevitably predictable. Geed character andmorality, perseverance and frugality, indus-try and thrift -- these and a peck of good luckwould carry one from poverty to the promisedland of economic and social success.

But this success literature nevermentioned the fate of those who did not makeit to the top. For there were thousands ofyoungsters who embodied all or some of thesequalities and never got to the top or even nearit. Not everyone could become a captain ofindustry; there was still a need for the greatarmy of economic privates. How was thisneed going to be met? Once again, the schoolswere called upon to fill the need. Nor is thisvery surprising in a country that has long re-garded education as a grand and optimisticAmerican religion. In his Triumphant r.emo-cracv (1886), Carnegie argued that the "truepanacea for all the ills of the body politicbubbles forth (in) education, education, educa-tion. " 26 A critic of traditional linguisticstudy and a proponent of practical schooling,Carnegie was confident that "a new idea ofeducation is now upon us."

A new education desperately was need-ed in America. The accomplishments ofHorace Mann, Henry Barnard, and theirgeneration were not sufficient for the new in-dustrial era. The literary curriculum of thecommon schools did not hold many boys andgirls in the later grades. Attendance lawsvaried widely and often they were n.it strictlyenforced. High schools had not yet come ofage and there was disagreement over theirpurpose and curriculum. Thousands of

youngsters left school as soon as they could inorder to find employment. In 1906, for ex-ample, it was found that about 25,000 childrenbet-. een fourteen and sixteen in Massachusettswere either at work or were idle. Nearly halfof them had not gone beyond the seventh gradeand only about one-sixth ever graduated fromelementary schoo1.27 Regardless of thequantity of moral character, perseverance,and thrift they possessed, most of thesechildren were engaged in "low-grade industries"with little or no prospect of future advancement.And why did they not stay in school longer? Be-cause the schools, especially the higher grades,did not provide youngsters of fourteen and fif-teen with "continued schooling of a practicalcharacter." If such a schooling could be offer-ed in the several grades, the schools wouldbecome more attractive and thus hold moreyoungsters for more schooling.

In the 1870's, both Runkle and Woodwardhad addressed themselves to this problem.However excellent the "abstract intellectualdiscipline" of the schools, Woodward arguedthat an education was not complete without aknowledge of the material wort,; and man'swork. His remedy was to put "the whole boyin school" and educate him "for all spheres ofusefulness. " To this end, the schools shouldinstitute the study of manual training as partof their programs of general education. Sucha system would intellectualize manual training,"elevate . . . , dignify . . ., (and) liberalizeall the essential elements of society . . "and render "it possible for every honorablecalling to be the happy home of cultivation andrefinement. "28 But Woodward's pleas formanual training did not go unchallenged.Many traditional schoolmen argued that only acommon cultural education belonged in thepublic schools and not the teaching of tradesor trade processes. One critic argued thatthere was "no information stored up in theplow, hoe handle, (or) steam engine" whereas"there is information stored up in books . . . "29Even the influential William Torrey Harriscriticized manual training as presenting alimited knowledge of one's self and nature.Only an intellectual education, he declared,

11

helped children to generalize, comprehend,relate, and idealize. "It is the differencebetween a piece of baked bread, which nourish-ed for the day, and the seed-corn, which is thepossibility of countless harvests. "30 Never-theless, in spite of these strictures, the man-ual training movement spread rapidly in thelast decades of the 19th century. Thousandsof children began to study manual arts (notonly tool work but homemaking and a varietyof arts and crafts as well) in public and pri-vate manual training schools and in specialclasses in existing schools.

Despite this apparent success storyfor manual training, criticism began to mountfrom another corner. If traditional educatorsattacked manual training as being too narrowlypractical, other voices began to attack it asbeing too narrowly theoretical. Especiallyafter the turn of the 20th century, many edu-cators and non-educators began to urge apractical training in the schools to preparestudents for real jobs. Andrew Carnegie hadsounded this call in the 1880's. In 1907, astowering a figure as President TheodoreRoosevelt attacked the schools for putting toohigh a premium "upon mere literacy training"which forced children away from "the farm andthe workshop. " What was needed, Rooseveltdeclared, were schools "i it mechanical in-dustries in the city" and schools for the practi-cal teaching of "agriculture in the country. "31Andrew S. Draper, Commissioner of Educationof New York State, rejected Woodward's pre-mises for the teaching of manual training anddeclared that the movement emphasized workwith the head to the detriment of work with thehands. In short, manual training schools were"much more like schools than shops, whereasthey should be more like shops than schools. "32

Woodward's followers fought back val-iantly but to no avail. W. N. Hellmann,Superintendent of the Dayton, Ohio publicschools, argued that manual training constitut-ed "a fit culmination of a rational head-heart-and-hand training in the direction of the me-chanic arts, engineering, and mining, and'ther worthy human pursuits that are unthink-

able without manual skill. " Manual training

12

would prepare large numbers of citizens "inharmony with the best and highest culture ofthe day," he believed, "captains, lieutenants,and sergeants of industry, who see and feelthe bearing of their work upon the public good,and realize their responsibility in this direc-tion. "33 A "Conference on Manual Training,"held in Boston in 1891, extolled the philosophyand methodology of manual training. Thetheme was consistently the same and therhetoric eloquent in its behalf. Perhaps FelixAdler best represented the spirit of the con-ference when he declared: "manual trainingmeans the training of the intellect as well asof the hand; that its chief recommendation isthat it offers a new instrumentality for train-ing the mind . . . "34

But after the turn of the 20th century,in general, manual training exponents onlysucceeded in convincing each other. It wasall well and good for Hailman to single outthe captains of industry and other officers inthis economic line of command. But whatabout the privates of industry who formed themajority of the working force and the over-whelming school population? How were theseyoungsters to be prepared for jobs they wouldoccupy after their school experience? Thiswas an important problem that the schools ofthe 20th century had to face honestly andsquarely. This was the problem that Carnegieand Roosevelt were talking about; this was theproblem that an increasing number of educa-tors, businessmen, and laborers began to ex-plore for possible solutions.

In 1906, the Massachusetts Commis-sion on Industrial and Technical Educationissued a report which studied the question indepth and issued a series of recommendationswhich served as a catalyst for more programsof vocational education.35 Popularly referredto as the Douglas commission, after theGovernor who convened it the year before, itstated that the schools were "too exclusivelyliterary in their spirit, scope and methods."Although manual training was viewed as a use-ful beginning, the commission criticized themovement as being too narrowly conceived."It has been urged as a cultural subject mainly

useful as a stimulus to other forms of intellec-tual effort -- a son of mustard relish, anappetizer -- to be conducted without referenceto any industrial end. It has been severedfrom real life as :tompletely as have the otherschool activities. " Instead, the Commissionrecommended that elementary schools offerwork "in the elements of productive industry,including agriculture and the mechanic anddomestic arts. " High schools were asked tomake instruction in mathematics, the sciences,and drawing more applicable to industry "sothat students may see that these subjects arenot designed primarily and solely for academicpurposes, but that they may be +Itilized for thepurposes of practical life." All !owns andcities were urged to establish "independentindustrial schools for instruction in the princi-ples of agriculture and the domestic and me-chanic arts" or to provide new day or evening"elective industrial courses" in existing highschools. 36 In line with the commission'srecommendation, the Massachusetts legisla-ture quickly established a Commission onIndustrial Education and appointed Paul Hanus,Professor ( f education at Harvard University,as its first Lhairman. Here, of course, wasthe implementation of a new dimension in themovement for vocational education. No longerwas technical training to be viewed as an in-tellectual or cultural exercise but now ratherwas a vocational choice.

The Douglas report was distributednot only in Massachusetts but it also attracteda nation-wide audience. For an increasingnumber of people began to view the whole pro-blem in national and even in internationaldimensions. As a result, in the same yearthat Douglas report was issued, the NationalSociety for the Promotion of Industrial Educa-tion was formed "to unite the many forcesmaking toward industrial education the countryover. "37 Organized by two New York educa-tors, the society would serve as a kind ofclearing house and pace setter for the causeof vocational education in the United States.Within a few years, it enlisted the supportboth of organized industry (National Associa-tion of Manufacturers) and of organized labor

(American Federation of Labor) for publicvocational schools. Once this collaboration-- as fragile as labor-management relationshas been was obtained in 1910, educatorsby the score started to hitch their hopes tothe rising star of vocational education.Whereas a decade or so before numerouspapers had extolled manual training at theannual conventions of the National EducationalAssociation, now the papers began to preachthe gospel of vocational education with uni-form regularity. This subject was deemed soimportant that the N. E. A. set up a specialCommittee on Vocational Education in 1913.Three years later, this committee publisheda massive tome on Vocational Secondary Edu-cation which dealt with the history, types,definitions, organization, financin.F, andproblems of vocational education. An in-ternational focus was given to this questionby Commissioner Andrew Draper of New Yorkwho placed the importance of vocational edu-cation within the context of world politics.Germany's rising industrial capacity was re-lated directly to the development of its ex-cellent system of industrial schools. OtherEuropean countries were taking their cuesfrom Germany and it was high time for theUnited States to awaken to the facts of indus-trial and political international life. Unlessthis country quickly organized a system ofeffective vocational sc.lools, Draper con-cluded, "we may as well face the fact thatGermany will in the end outrun America inindustrial prepotency, and therefore in nation-al productivity and power. "39 No mean in-ternationalist in his views on foreign affairs,Theodore Roosevelt emphasized the defectsof a purely literary education and urgedschoolmen to direct education "more andmore toward training boys and girls back tothe farm and the shop. '9

Roosevelt's sentiments indicate thathe understood the vocational educationalmovement to include not only urban discon-tentment with the schools but also a strongelement of agrarian dissatisfaction that wasincreasing in intensity.41 Traditional school-ing seemed as obsolete and irrelevant to the

13

worker who labored in the factory as it wasto the farmer who toiled the soil. Farmers'demands for a more practical education hadbeen instrumental in the passage of the MorrillLand-Grant Act of 1862 which had establishedagricultural and mechanical colleges. But onthe lower levels of education, there had beenno basic change in the general curriculum pat-terns of preceding generations. Critics com-plained that rural schools dealt too much withbooks and too little with the practical realitiesof life. In order to halt the steady exodus ofthe young from the farm, many voices urgedthe school to accept the responsibility to teachrural youth the virtues of country living andthe "spirit of agriculture." Not only influent-ial farm journals but agricultural organizationsas well stumped for a more practical educationin the schools. An essential part of the pro-gram of the National Grange of the Patrons ofHusbandry praised common school educationbut also demanded that it embrace practicalsubjects as well as the traditional academicstudies. Both the Farmers' Alliances of the1880's and the Populist movement of the 1890'svigorously pursued the call for a more practi-cal education in rural schools. In 1892, acommittee of the Association of AmericanAgricultural Colleges and Experiment Stationspleaded for agricultural instruction in highschools as well as in rural common schools.42

At the beginning of the 20th century,therefore, the demand for vocational educa-tion in the schools included not only strong in-dustrial demands but also spirited supportfrom rural America. After the formation ofthe National Society for the Promotion ofIndustrial Education in 1906, many diversegroups such as farmers, businessmen, laborleaders, and educators converged for the goodof vocational education. In the years follow-ing 1910, this organization launched a vastcampaign for federal aid to support vocationaleducation. Although twenty-nine states al-ready had some type of vocational program inoperation, it was thought the problem was ofsuch national proportion that it demanded fed-eral assistance. As early as 1906, the Pollardbill,'which would have provided federal funds

14

for the training of teachers of agriculture,manual training, domestic science, and re-lated subjects, was introduced into the Houseof Representatives. Together with severalothers submitted in both houses of Congressin the years prior to 1914, this bill nevergained the needed support for passage. Inorder to prod Congress to pass the necessarylegislation, influential educators and non-ed-ucators persuaded the federal lawmakers toconvene a Commission on National Aid toVocational Education. Approved by PresidentWoodrow Wilson in 1914, the commission con-sisted of four congressmen and five leadersin the field of vocational education, includingCharles A. Prosser who was the executivesecretary of the N.S. P.I. E.

The commission made a series ofrecommendations that were substantially in-corporated into the Smith-Huges Act of 1917.43Under this act, federal funds were provided,on a matching basis with the individual states,for vocational education in agriculture, trades,home economics, and industry, and for teachertraining in each of these fields. Those schoolseligible for such funds had to be publicly con-trolled, designed to meet the needs of childrenover fourteen in order to fit them for usefulemployment, and be "less than college grade."To administer the allocation of federal funds,the act created a Federal Board for VocationEducation to work jointly and cooperativelywith state boards for vocational education. Aconfirmatory rather than an innovative act, theSmith-Hughes Act made vocational educationa bonafide part of American education and putit on a relatively stable financial basis. AsCharles A. Bennett declares in his History ofManual and Industrial Education, 1870-1917,federal involvement in vocational educationmarked "a new era in manual and industrialeducation in the United States."'"

A year after the passage of the Smith-Huges Act, the National Educational Associa-tion's Commission on the Reorganization ofSecondary Education issued its famousCardinal Principles of Secondary Education.45In preparation for several years and perhapsinfluenced by federal concern for vocational

education, the report included "vocation" asone of the seven major objectives of secondaryeducation. But rather than establish separatevocational schools, the report championed thedevelopment of comprehensive high schools inwhich the different aims of the school could bedeveloped harmoniously. Vocational educa-tion was not ignored, for the report endorsedsuch vocational priorities as agricultural,business, clerical, industrial, fine-arts, andhousehold education. Such recommendationsobviously reflected a change of educationalcurrent from that of the previous and equallyfamous Report of the Committee of Ten (1893)which did not recognize the importance ofincluding vocational courses in the curricu-lum."

iv

Once the Federal Board for VocationalEducation began operations, all the statesquickly followed suit by establishing equivalentstate boards for vocational education. Nearly165,000 students were enrolled in vocationalcourses in 1918 and by the end of the 1920'sthe number had jumped to over 1,000,000students. 47 In the late 1920's and early 1930's,Congress appropriated additional expendituresfor vocational subjects. In 1936, the GeorgeDeem Act not only increased expenditures butfor the first time underwrote the financing ofdistributive education as well.

But in 1936, the United States was alsomired in its great depression. Millions ofmen were out of work and it was extremelydifficult for young people to secure positionsonce they left school. Not only did the federalgovernment continue its financial support ofvocational education in the schools but it alsosponsored "New Deal" legislation which pro-vided non-school vocational programs. Es-tablished in 1933 to provide work relief foryoung men and to develop and conserve thenatural resources of the country, the CivilianConservation Corps engaged in varying degreesof on-the-job training. Specialized courseswere offered in cocking, baking, radio opera-ting, and training in the repair and mainten-ance of automo5iles, tractors, and motors.In 1935, the National Youth Administration

was organized to provide part-time, wage-earning work for students who needed financialassistance to remain in schools, and for youngpeople who were out of school and unemployed.Those remaining in school performed a varie-ty of jobs in schools and colleges while out-of-work youth engaged in a variety of jobs in con-struction, conservation, education, health,and office work. The Works Project Adminis-tration not only operated several cooperativeprograms with public vocational schools suchas training people for defense industries, butit managed other programs directly under theadministration of federal and state W. P. A.officials. With the approach of war in 1940,Congress passed greater appropriations totrain defense production workers (war pro-duction workers after Pearl Harbor) with in-tensive training in specific jobs such as drill-press operators, lathe operators, rtveters,and welders. 48 During the gloomy days of1942, the National Society for the Study ofEduestion devoted its forty-second yearbookto Vocational Education. In a chapter on"Legislative Commitments Affecting Vocation-al Education," L. H. Dennis predicted thatpost-wai America would witness increasedfederal legislation with regard to vocationr1education and with correspondingly heavierresponsibilities placed upon it. "Millions ofpeople . . . will have to ba retrained forpeace-time occupations," declared OakleyFurnev and C. Kenneth Beach in "VocationalEducation for National Defense, "while the"personnel of the armed tors will also needvocational training . . " Dennis, Forney,and Beach were right on both counts. Rightafter the war, the George-Barden Act in-creased appropriations for the various areasof vocational education and even authorizedths. use of funds for guidance training in thefield. And lx fore returning servicemen setfoot on American shores, Congress had al-ready passed the "GI Bill of Rights" whichprovided substantial funds for the educationof veterans." Many men and women tookadvantage of this opportunity by attendingnumerous vocational training programsthroughout the country.

15

Just as vocational education hademerged within the broader progressivemovement in American education in the late19th and early 20th centuries, so too did itsfortunes fluctuate with the increasing critic-ism of public education in the late 1940's and1950's. -51 In sharp reaction to the progress-ive education of the 1920's, 1930's, and early1940's, many critics charged the schools withbeing intellectually mediocre and "coddling"too many youngsters. Even courses in voca-tional education did not prepare a sufficientt,r.ber of adeq lately trained young people tomeet the increasing manp.)wer needs of thecountry. Moreover, the United States, nowinvolved in a "cold war" struggle with Russiafor world power and influence, desperatelyneeded a better education to train more lead-ers, scientists, and technicians to competewith Russian achievements. Soviet scientificprogress, most threateningly symbolized bythe launching of Sputnik in 1957, loomed as aserious Russian challenge to American powerand prestige. This country could not afford tolose the battle and strident voices called forthe intellectual improvement of the schools.Responsive to the need for educational actionif the United States were to retain her nationaland international leadership, Congress passedthe National Defense Education Act in 1958just one year after Sputnik. &2 In addition tofunds that were provided for programs inscience, mathematics, and modern languages,the set appropriated $15,000,000 annually tothe states to assist in thr t. aining of skilledtechnicians in fields necessary for nationaldefense.

In the years immediately following thepassage of the N.D.E. A. , James B. Conantwrote a series of books examining the differentlevels and problems of American education.A former President of Harvard University,Conant argued that the existing erluca..enalstructare was basically sound even though itneeded some basic and immediate reforms.In The American High School (1959) and Slumsand Suburbs (1961), he strongly defended theneed for vocational educational programs inAmerican schools. He felt that traditional

16

vocational programs were worthy of study andadvocated that they be part of the program ofthe comprehensive high schools rather thanexist as separate vocational schools. Conantbelieved that students enrolled in vocationalprograms should also receive a solid generaleducation and that administrators should makeevery effort to prevent their "?solation fromthe other students." Finally, he urged thatstudents must see the relevance of vocationalcourses to their future careers and that voca-tional programs be directly related to theemployment opportunities in the differentcommunities. 533

Although Conant gave generous end se-ment to vocational ed nation in his books, hisstatistics indicated that most high school stu-dents thd not receive any kind of vocationaltraining Thus, in 1953-1954, only 39.5% ofall male students In Massachusetts were invocational programs while only 7.0% of thegirls participated in any comparable pro-gram." Nine years later, the figures werenot any more encouraging. As of 1962, over11,000,000 of the more than 13,000,000 highschool students participated in no vocationalclasses; of the former number, it was estima-ted that approximately half needed such in-struction in an age when greater and moresophisticated Allis than ever before wereneeded for success in the labor market.National drop-out figures for 1961 indicatedthat two-thirds of the youngsters between six-teen and twenty-one were unemployed. b5 Manyeducators became increasingly concerned withsuch alarming figures, and in 1962 the federalgovernmeat took cognizance of the eituation bypassing the Manpower Development and Train-ing Act which provided funds for the trainingand re-training of unemployed youngsters andadults. b6 Nevertheless, two years later, itwas estimated that approximately 1,800,000workers were losing their jobs to machinesevery year, and that 1,000,000 people underthe age of twenty-five possessed rio vocationalskills and thus were unemployed. °7

In view of the technological advancesand the strident social problems in contempor-ary American society, vocational education

itself came in for reassessment. Accordingly,President John F. Kennedy appointed 2 Panelof Consultants on Vocational Education "to re-view the past achievements and to modernizeand redirect the program in terms of theextraordinary developments in technology andin terms of a variety of social and economicneeds. "58 As a result of the panel's recom-mendations, Congress passed the VocationalEducation Act of 196a.°8 As much a mile-stone in the history of vocational education aswas the Smith-Hughes Act nearly five decadesearlier, it not only strengthened existing pro-grams but extended vocational concern inareas not previously developed. In the wordsof Mayor D. Mobley, executive secretary ofthe American Vocational Association, andMelvin L. Barlow, director of the Division ofVocational Education at the University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles, the act provided"instruction so that persons of all ages in allcommunities will have ready access to voca-tional training which is of high quality, realis-tic in relation to employment, and suited to theneeds, interests, and ability of the personsconcerned. Such persons were identified:(a) those in high school, (b) those who havecompleted or discontinued formal educationand are preparing to enter the labor market,(c) those who have already entered the labormarket and who need to upgrade their skillsor learn new ones, and (d) those with educa-tional handicaps, "60 Never before in itshistory had vocational education been chargedwith such a broad and expansive responsibilityin American education.

Most vocational educators viewed thisact as the second "Magna Carta" in the his-tory of vocational education. Funds wouldnow be available to develop pilot programsand demonstration projects, declared oneauthor, while another felt that the statutewould enable new programs to provide broaderemployment opportunities for more Ameri-cans.81 Such a law reminded society, in theview of a third author, of its obligation tohelp the nine out of ten who did not hold abaccalaureate degree nor have job prepara-tion as the end of their formal education.62

Another writer believed that the act was gearedto those from low-income families who suffer-ed from poor levels of health, education, andunder-employment. Furthermore, it was de-signed to help minority groups, those with non-institutional mental problems, the culturallydisadvantaged, an6the politically and econom-ically powerless. Harold Howe II. Com-missioner of Education, stated that better andmore extended vocational educational programswould give greater self-respect to those stu-dents participating in superior programs."By making our young people believe in them-selves as individuals," he declared, "improv-ed vocational-education programs will makethem better citizens, better parents, andbettor members of the community in whichthey live. "64 In a generally optimistic vein,one vocational educator prophesied that the"epitaph to vocational education as we haveknown it may have been written with the pass-age of the Vocational Education Act of 1963."Because this act mde programs less restric-tive and more flexible, vocational educatorson the one hand could "no longer hide behind

1?

. . . the so-called restrictive federal limita-tion" while on the other hand, general educa-tors could no longer "rationalize . . (their)lack of indecision to move precisely into thefield of vocational education. ,,65

Vocational educatio i is still beset withmany problems. Yet, this is not alarming initself for to the problems will come thechallenge to seek new solutions. Legislationprovides some results, but it must be coupledwith new ideas and new vision before the fieldfully responds to the needs of society. Increas-ingly aware of the importance of vocationaleducation for American society, "what willthe states do differently under these new pro-visions which will assure the preparation ofyouth to meet their challenge in the work-a-day world? Will the leadership provide asounder secondary-school vocational opportun-ity for youth? Will there be more state orlocal funding?' 6 Theae are but a few of thequestions that must be dealt with effectively.What are the chances for continued progressin vocational education? In the words of onevocational educator, "Only time will tell. "67

FOOTNOTES

1Charles A. Bennett, History of Manual and Industrial Education, 1870 to 1917 (Peoria,Illinois: The Manual Arts Press, 1937), pp. 16-17, 48-50. At this point, I should like to acknow-ledge a debt of gratitude to Robert Lavenberg for his able help in the research for this paper.

2Ibid. , p. 320., pp. 32-1322, 340-346. Cf. Charles H. Ham, Manual Training, The Solution of

Social and Industrial Problems (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1886) and John D. Runkle,Forty-first Annual Report of the Board of Education., State of Massachusetts, 1876-18/7.

4Calvin M. Woodward, Manual Education (St. Louis: O. 1. Jones and Oompany, 1878),

5Ibid., pp. 18, 21.°John Dewey, The School and Society in Martin S. Dworkin (ed.) Dewey on Education:

Selections (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1959), p. 35.-For a devastating, muckraking account of American education, see Joseph M. Rice'sarticles in The Forum Magazine_(1892-1893). In The Transformation of the School: Progress-ivism in American Education, 1876-1957 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., t)61), pp. 3-6,Lawrence A. Cremin presents a penetrating analysis of the Rice articles.

p. 20.

18

8Dewey, op. cit. , p. 36.9The two famous English laws relating to apprenticeship were the Statute of Artificers

(1562) and the Poor Law (1601). Cf. Jonathan F. Scott, Historical Essays on Apprenticeship andVocational Education (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Press, 1914) and Arthur B. Mays, TheProblem of Industrial Education (New York: The Century Co. , 1927), chs. HI and IV.

111i-c37 the texts and analysis of these laws in detail, see Robert F. Seybolt, Apprenticeshipand Apprenticeship Education in Colonial New England and New York (New York: Columbia Univer-sity Press, 1917).

12For a masterful analysis of the Puritan colonial mind and the influence of Augustinianthought upon it, see Perry Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Boston:Beacon Press, 1961 and The New England Mind: From Colony to Province (Boston: Beacon Press,1961).

"Paul H. Douglas, American Apprenticeship and Industrial Education (Nev York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1921), p. 47.

14ibid., ch. II. Cf. Carl Bridenbaught, Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of UrbanLife in America, 1625-1742 (New York: Ronald Press Company, 1938) and Bernard Baiiyn, Educa-tion in the Forming of American Society (New York: Vintage Books, 1960).

18Quoted in Douglas T. Miller, Jacksonian Aristocracy: Class and Democracy in New York1830-1860 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 107.

18Working Man's Advocate] March 30, 1844, quoted In ibid., p. 131.17New York Evening Journals February 18, 1830, quoted in ibid. , p. 34.18Ibid., pp. 34-45.1 /167.71., P. 37.20Free Enquirer, November 7, 1829: Working Man's Advocate April 24, 1830. For a bio-

graphy of Owen, see Richard IN. Leopold, Robert Dale Owen, A Biography (Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University s, 1940). Cf. Lawrence A. Cremin, The American Common School: AnHistoric Conception (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1951), pp. 33-44.

21Charles A. Bennett, History of Manual and Industrial Education up to 1870 (PerriaIllinois: The Manual Arts Press, 1926), pp. 317-325.

22For a history of the lyceum movement in the United States, see Carl Bode, The AmericanLyceum (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956).

23Jonathan B. Turner, Industrial Universities for the People. Published in Compliance withResolutions of the Chicago and Springfield Conventions, and Under the Industrial League of Illinois(Jacksgoville, Illinois: Morgan Journal Book aid Job Office, 1853), p. 22.

"Quoted in Elie F. Goldman, Rendetvous With Destiny: A History of Modern AmericanReform revised and abridged (New York: Vintage Books, 1956), p. 29.

7.°Henry Perkinson, unpublished manuscript tentatively titled The imperfect Panacea. Iwish to thank Henry Perkinson for allosking me to read his manuscript and glean several of hisinsights.

"Quoted in ibid. Cf. Andrew Carnegie, The Empire of Business (New York: 1902), pp. 79-81.

27Report of the Commission on Industrial and Technical Education., April, 1906 (Boston:otter Printing Co., 1906), pp. 30-34.Wright

29Quoted in Cremin, Transformation of the School, op. cit., op. 28-29. In general, 1 amfollowing the chronology of Bennett and Cremin during the remaining part of section Hi of thispaper.

29Quoted in Bennett, Manual and Industrial Education, 1870-1917, p. 361;

Cremin, Transformation of the School, op. cit., p. 30.

19

30Quoted in Cremin, Transformation of the School, op. cit. , p. 31.31Theodore Roosevelt, "Annual Message, December 3, 1907, " in The Abridgements (1907)

vol. 1, pp. 30-31.Andrew S. Draper, "Our children, Our Schools, and Our Industries," Albany, New York:

New York State Education Department, 1908), p. 9.33W. N. Hallman, Educational Aspects of Manual Training (New York & Chicago: E. L.

Kellog)4 & Co., 1899), pp. 18-19.34Felix Adler, "The Educational Value of Manual Training in the Public Schools," A

Conference on Manual Training, Boston, April 8-11 (Boston: New England Conference Educational%Yorkers:, 1891), p. 46.

3°Report of the Commission on Industrial and Technical Education, April, 1906 (Boston:Wright L Potter Printing Co. , 1906).

"Ibid. , pp. 2-24."Bulletins of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No.

1 (1907), p. 13; Cremin, Transformation of the School, op. cit. , p. 39; Bennett, Manual andIndustrial Education, 1870-1917, op. cit. , pp. 517-518.

38Vocational Secondary Education, Bulletin, 1916, No. 21 (Washington, D. C.: GovernmentPrinting Office, 1916.

'9Draper, op. cit. , p. 32.40Theodore Roosevelt, Address, Educator-Journal (April, 1908), 382.41Although Roosevelt seemed to see thn relationship between urban and rural elements in

the demand for vocational education, many historians, including Bennett, have emphasized theurban element in the movement. Thus, one of the most valuable parte of Cremin's discussion ofvocational education during the post-Civil War period is that which definitely relates the urban andrural demand for vocational education. Cf. Rush Welter, Popular Education and DemocraticThought in America (New York; Columbia University Press, 1962), Part Three, ch, X.

42Cremln, Transformation of the School, op. cit., pp. 41-50; Welter, ibid., pp. 160-176.43Bennett, Manual and Industrial Education, 1870-1917, op. cit., pp. 542-550; Cremin,

Transformation of the School, op. cit., pp. 52-57. Cf. Federal and State-Aided VocationalEducation (New York: National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 1917).-4413ennett, Manual and Industrial Education, 1870-1917, op. cit., p. 550.

°cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (United States Bureau of Education, BulletinNo. 35, 1918).

46Report of the Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies (New York: American BookCo., 1894). For a good discussion of this report as well as the Cardinal Principles of SecondaryEducation, see Edward A, Krug, The Shaping of the American High School (New York: Harper &Row, 1964) and Lawrence A. Cremin, "The Revo:ution in American Secondary Education, 1893-1918. " Teachers College Record, 56 (March, 19551, 295-308.

47William P. Sears, Jr., The Roots of Vocational Education (New York: John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1931), p. 202.

48Lynn A. Emerson, "Vocational Education Through Non-School Governmental Agencies,"in Vocational Education (Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education, 1943), pp. 297-304.

49L. H. Dennis, "Legislative Commitments Affecting Vocational Education," In ibid.,p. 179; Oakley Furney and C. Kenneth Beach, "Vocational Education for National Defense,"In NA, Lp. 195.

"Mayor D. Mobley and Melvin L. Barlow, Impact of Federal Legislation and Policiesupon Vocational Education, " in Vocational Education (Chicago: National Society for the Study ofEducation, 1965), p. 188.

20

51Cremin, Transformation of the School, op. cit., pp. 328-353.52Mobley and Barlow, op. cit., p. 189; James B. Conant, The Child The Parent And

The State (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Pleas, 1959), pp. 30-31, 168-170.53James B. Conant, The American High School Today (New York: McGraw-Hill Book

Company, Inc. , 1959), pp. 51-55; James B. Conant, Slums and Suburbs (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1961, pp. 44-49.

54Conant, American High School Today, op. cit., pp. 128-129.650tto Pragan, "Labor's Stake in Vocational Education," American Vocational Journal,

40 (March, 1965), 13-14, 32.56Mobley and Barlow, op. cit., pp. 189-190; Walter M. Arnold, "Changing Patterns

in Vocational Education," Education, 85 (December, 1964), 206-210.57Albert J. Feirer, "The Future Role of Vocational-Technical Education in Our Society,"

Dclustrial Arts and Vocational Education, 53 (May, 1964), 23-26, 67-68, 70.58Mobley and Barlow, oasi_t_., p. 199.SSIbid., pp. 198-200.

, p. 200.61Rupert N. Evans, "New Research and Pilot Programs for Vocational Education, " in

National Association of Secondary-School Principals Bulletin, 49 (May, 1965), 38-43; BernardA. Shilt, "Some Facts About the Vocational Education Act of 1963," Balance Sheet, 46 (October,1964), ri-54.

Mary L. Hurt, "Educating for the World of Work: A Team Approach," EducationalLeadership, 22 (January, 1965), 221-225.

"Barbara H. Kemp, "The Youth We Haven't Served," American Vocational Journal,40 (October, 1965) 24-26.

"Harold Howe H. "The Human Side of Vocational Education, " School Shop, 25 (April,1966), 2.

65Carl J. Schaefer, "The Old Stereotypes No Longer Apply to Job Training, " SchoolOm 24 (April, 1965), 60-81, 118.

66/bid

6711-d.

Theodore Brame Id

REACTION

"The Development of Vocational Education in America: An Historical Overview by Dr.Vincent Lannie is an admirable example of the relevance of history in general, and of vocationaleducation history in particular. It demonstrates how we cannot hope to move forward towardprognosis of the problems confronting such a conference as this unless and until we are providedwith the kind of diagnosis which, no less in education than in medicine, the history of the patientrequires.

Let me select a few of the highlightsof this paper as they strike one learner whohappens to be partivlarly concerned with theprem,stic dimension.

To begin with, it Is helpful for us torealize that rich historic influence upon thedevelopment of vocational education In Ameri-ca derived from other parts of the world.Thus it was entirely news to me to learn thatthe Imperial Technical School of Moscow pro-vided something of preliminary model a fullcentury ago. Likewise, the impact of RobertDale Owen by way of English and fmiss pio-neering was impressive. Today, it wouldseem highly desirable to appreciate morethan we often do because of our ethnocentricif not olicn quite condescending Americanposture that we can still benefit enormouslyby frontier developments in other cultureswhich are, in fact, sometimes far ahead ofour own in educational as well as other kindsof practice. in two prolonged research stu-dies that I have conducted abroad -- one inPuerto Rico, the other in Japan -- I havefound rich demoastrations of this fact as theyapply in other features of edmation than thevocational. The question I would ask is

whether we might not equally benefit fromcombined vocational-general designs andprograms that have burgeoned in the SovietUnion, Yugoslavia, and other countries ac-cording to what is now frequently termedpolytechnical education.

A second reaction that deserves com-ment is Professor Lannie's proper concernfor the cultural evolution of America duringparticularly the past century -- the changeof family patterns with their occupationalshifts, the decline of ruralism, and aboveall the revolutionary changes in large-scaleindustrialism with such accompaniments asurbanism. It is, to be sure, trite merely tocomment here that educational changes arealways the counterpart of economic, political,social, and other aspects of cultural change.Not equally trite is the profound and complexnetwork of relationships, often hidden andeven unconscious, that pervades these connec-tions. To understand the views of, say anAndrew Carnegie or a Theodore Rooseveltin their enthusiasm for vocational trainingwithout undet standing their stake in an econom-ic system that benefits enormously from alarge reservoir of trained workers is to fail

*Dr. nrameld is Professor of Education, Boston University.21

22

to appreciate how vocational education alsobecame and still remains an important allyof that system -- a system which, whateverwe may think of its vast contributions, provesalso to be one that is heavily burdened with arecord of severe exploitation, autocraticdomination, political corruption, imperialistexpansion, and -- last but by no means least-- emotional and intellectual alienation.Granting that such characteristics as thesethat lie in the background of vocational educa-tion have been modified in various degrees,it is not, I believe, unwarranted to contendthat they still remain powerful characteristics,if often still concealed, in our own day.

A third reaction that the paper chal-lenges is its frequent referende to the conflictbetween general, academic education andvocational education. This conflict, as theauthor knows better than I, reaches backInto history at least as far as Plato. Yet isit surely not evident that no very significantor far-reaching resolution has yet been foundin America on any broad scale? James D.Conant's comprehensive high school, althoughone may concede that it is one of his very fewimpressive ideas, amounts to little more thana patchwork a curriculum that glues to-gether many pieces of much the same sub-jects and skills that have long prevailed in thetypical high school, yet that never confrontsthe much more fundamental conception of awell integrated curriculum. This conception,maintained with particular persuasiveness bytwo great educational leaders mentioned in thepaper -- John Dewey and Felix Adler -- deniesany biAircation of vocational and academiclearning. It regards each as fruitful to theother. The notion of 'Work experience, " forexample, is not seen as a kind of appendageto "intellectual experience" but as a repudia-tion of the whole long tradition of their separa-tion. The pioneering of Elsie Clapp, theinnovations of Antioch College, and other caseshave demonstrated that an anti-dualistic, genu-inely unified, and organismic conception ofelementary, secondary, and even college edu-cation is psychologically and socially, aswell as philosophically, feasible. Yet, in

many respects, it appears that recent Ameri-can education has, if anything, drifted awayfrom rather than moved aggressively towardits realization -- a drift which must be ac-counted for again, not so much within educa-tion itself, as by the cultural climate of ourtime noted by events in the paper.

These comments lead me, in conclus-ion, to respond to Professor Lannie's con-cluding paragraph where he touches upon theneed for "new ideas and new vision." Permitme to mention three illustrations of this need,all of them sparked by his own overview.

Returning to the unified conception ofthe curriculum that we have thus fay failed torealize in America, the 'hew vision" alreadywell overdue is not of a patchwork compre-hensive high school but of a genuine communityschool -- a school that amalgamates the cur-riculum in terms of the vital and pressing pro-blems of human life itself, beginning with thefamily as the most nuclear community of all,moving outward into the neighborhood, andgradually, with maturation, embracing theever-widening circumferences of state, region,nation, Lind finally the community of the worldas a whole. Such a school includes vocationalexperience in the form of work involvement,but always in relation to expert guidance byteachers. Every phase of the technological,agricultural, and other dimensions of thewidening community is taught and learned, butconstantly in dynamic interaction with history,science, language, art, and every other im-portant ingredient essential to the process ofgrowing up and reaching maturity. The class-room itself therefore changes its character toembrace the environment outside formal walls.Parents and other citizens as well as studentsbecome involved in every aspect of rule-mak-ing, curriculum planning and implementation;indeed, they themselves often become part ofthe community school on the thoroughly es-tablished assumption that learning is a lifelongprocess. At the same time, the radical altera-tions in American life induced by reductions ofworking time and increases of leisure timebecome both a severe problem and an excitingopportunity. Drop-outs diminish because

children and young adults discover that theyare learning about a time and a world that dir-ectly concern them.

My next illustration follows. Pro-fessor Lannie has not mentioned that one of themore interesting developments in twentieth-century education as II relates to the vocation-al is known as worker's education. This isthe movement sponsored primarily by organi-zed labor. In recent years, due at least inpart to the narrow and unimaginative policyof the CIO-AFL, workers' education has be-come much less a dynamic force than it willtwo and three decades ago. Nevertheless, itsrole remains as essential as it ever was, per-haps more so, for the worker involved in thismovement learns about himself and his fellowsin ways that he rarely if ever learned in strict-ly vocational education, or for that matter inthe academic curriculum. Workers' educa-tion, in short, was and still remains in somedegree an effort to enlighten the vast popula-tion of working people, blue-collared orwhite-collared, about the economic and politi-cal environment, about the meaning of indus-trial democracy, and how they might confrontthe serious deficiencies of an economic systemdesigned too often to utilize vocational trainingin behalf of other people's interests and powerthan their own. Today; there is some pros-pect that this movement will once more moveahead. It is my own hope that it will becomea continuous adjunct of the community schoolas a whole.

My final illustration of "new ideas andnew vision" recalls Professor Lannie's ref-erence to the emergence of federal support.I am grateful to him for reminding us of the

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Smith-Hughes Act and of those that havefollowed. For we are thereby also remindedthat, thanks chiefly to the leaders of vocation-al and agricultural education, federal aid hasa much longer and more successful historythan many of its opponents like to remind usof. Today, federal aid has also belatedlyarrived as an essential aspect of total publiceducation regarded as a national responsibility.Where confusions still prevail most conspicu-ously is not in that responsibility so much asin the question of how far federal control is tobe a cooperating policy of federal aid. At pre-sent, the National Education Association hasitself regressed in its attitudes, apparentlypreferring to support more of the tradition oflocal and state control. The history of Smith-Hughes and even the recent policies governingthe G. I. Bill of Rights and the National De-fense Education Act demonstrate, I think, thatthe NEA is wrong again, and that the old buga-boo of federal control should at last be liquidat-ed. The central question is not, of course,whether we are to have control along with aid,because we always have, Rather, the questionis how federal control is to be democraticallycarried out by guaranteeing workable policiesof decentralized administration commensuratewith centralized author ity. I gladly concedethat this issue is difficult, for its roots rundeep into political philosophy. It vitalizesprecisely the kind of issue that citizens them-selves should be confronting with increasingsophistication in the curriculum of every level.It therefore embraces workers' education.And it is an issue that illustrates how the com-munity school fuses academic and vocationaleducation as every -day partners.

PSYCHOLOGY

James W. Altman*

A BEHAV IORAL VIEW OF VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

Vc lational-technical education has a rich history, having been surveyed and studied by many(Altman & Morrison, 1966; Barlow, 1965; Borow, 1964; Eninger, 1965; Quirk & Sheehan, 1967;

United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1957; Venn, 1964). I do not propose,however, to look at vocational-technical education in historic perspective or even from a review ofits current status. Rather, I shall simply assume that cha ge will be occurring at an acceleratingrate and that attention to the specific processes by which we endeavor to guide this change is worth-while. These assumptions are based on two facts:

1. The total body of scientifically basedknowledge is changing at a rate which Invitesobsolescence during the very act of being whisk-ed into the school. Price (1963, pp. 2-3) hasdefined the immediacy of scientific knowledge ingraphic terms:

rt. . . any young scientist, startingnow and looking back at the end ofhis career upon a normal life span,will find that 80 to 90 percent of allscientific work achieved by the endof the period will have ta'f.en placebefore his eyes, and that only 10 to20 percent will antedate his experi-ence.'

2. The concentration of resources in-volved in curriculum revisions and their im-pact on education are assuming proportionsworthy of serious consideration Niter, 1965).

Oagn (1966) recently stated, "Thecentral focus for charge in educational practice

Omiral

during the pa st decade has been the curriculum."I can see no reason why this focus is likely tochange in the near future. Consequently, 1would like to approach the issue of change invocational-technical education largely from theperspective of how one might go about develop-ing a new educational program, with emphasison instructional content.

Like it or not, deciding what to teachIs no longer casual or obvious. It is becomingan increasingly expensive and complex pro-cess, albeit one which Is still largely implicitand lacking a generally accepted technologicalbase. The purpose of this paper is to explicatesome of the imperatives for such a technologyof educational development. Precisely becausethey have received the least attention from be-havioral scientists and educational researchers,and because they are most lacking in technicalbase, I shall concentrate on the very earlystages of development. My coverage of thelater stages will be relatively traditional,sketchy, and intended primarily to insure that

Dr. Altman is Director, Institute for Performance Technology, American Institute forResearch.

25

26

we have a comprehensive developmentalframework -- not to provide substantive de-tail.

Following the suggestion of a develop-mental framework, I will attempt to derivesome of its implications for the potential long-range contributions vocational-technical edu-cation can make to individuals at the second-ary and post-secondary levels. Finally, Ishall try to identify some of the directionswhich might be implied by such a development-al framework.

DEVELOPMENTAL METHODOLOGY

Perhaps at the outset of discussing de-velopmental methodology we should try toclarify the specificity-generality or trainingversus education issue. Glaser and Glanzer(1958) have defined this issue as follows:

"'Training' is usually defined asthe teaching of specific skills;'education, on the other hand,usually refers to a broader typeof teaching. The objectives ofeducation are the providing ofa basis for learning of specificskills at some later date eitherthrough experience or training.An issue frequently met concernswhether it is more worthwhile totrain individuals for a high pro-ficiency level in a particularphase of a job or more worth-while to provide more generaltraining within the time available.Specific training gets people onthe job faster and usually at arelatively high level of compet-ence. More general training(assuming equal time periodsfor both kinds of training) usuallymeans that men may be moreadaptable to fluctuations in jobprocedure and new equipment,but require an additional periodof specific on-the-ph training.Each kind of training has Its

place and often a compromisebetween the objectives ofspecificity and breadth mustbe made and appropriate train-ing for specific skills or train-ing of behaviors which are moregeneralizable must be implement-ed (i). 9). "

Accepting the position of Glaser andGlanzer, it seems clear that we must seek amethodology which will cover the full spectrumof education-training. There seems to be nosharp line of demarcation. However, a meth-odology which is comprehensive enough forsuch a broad spectrum will inherently be over-ly elaborate for many specific developmentalproblems -- especially those involving onlyhighly specific job training. For example,Butler's (1967) approach to design of systemsfor instruction of one or a few closely relatedjobs appropriately attenuates all of the stepsin our approach we would suggest are present-ed In schematic °vet view as Figure 1.

IDENTIFY MILIEU FORCES

An honest effort to explicate the princi-pal motives out of which a developmental ef-fort grows, which will influence the course ofdevelopment, and which will affect the suc-cess of implementation, can help to clarify thecomplex of communication required throughoutthe developmental process. It is neither nec-essary nor feasible that a design team do anin-depth analysis of the innermost motives ofall relevant parties. Nevertheless, a greatdeal of useful clarity can be achieved by beingspecific about the principal forces that demandand those that run counter to the developmentaleffort.

Woodring (1964) has stated that mostrecent reforms in education have been due notto new psychological discoveries but to socialand political pressures and to widespread dis-content with our educational system. Shrw(1966) has more recently reaffirmed this posi-tion and added economic, demographic, ad-vances In technology, pressure group, and

"knowledge explosion" factors as taking pm.-cedonce over psychological findings or ad-vances in curriculum theory. However, Iwould not be so inclined to discount the fadvalue of innovations such as team teaching,ungraded classes, tracking, teaching machines,programmed instruction, individualized in-struction computer-based instruction andguidance, flexible scheduling (Bush & Allen,1964), "the systems approach," and "programplanning and review techniques" as a sourceof pressure for educational change.

Regardless of the sources, it seemsto me that being as explicit and honest aspossible about the basal motivation out of whicha developmental effort grows can be mostcathartic for the entire complex of communica-tion required throughout the developmentalprocess. Indeed, I would almost be willing toenter the following as serious propositions:

1. The degree of self-delusion andmisapprehension is a monotonic increasingfunction of the degree of grandiloquence withwhich purpose is stated or implied.

2. The difficulty of achieving coherenceof developmental action is a monotonic increas-ing function of the degree of self-delusion andmisapprehension with which purposes of theeffort are understood.

3. The merit of an educational de-velopmental effort is a monotonic decreasing.function of self-delusion and misapprehensionrampant among a developmental team.

IDENTIFY RESOURCES, 1 CONSTRAINTS, 1AND CONTEXTS

No educational development effort hasunlimited resources of manpower, money,materials, facilities, or time; each has ad-ditional political, technological, instructionalstaff, policy, and administrative limits. Noeducational development has operational mean-ing outside of the organizational and demo-graphic contexts in which it will be applied.Thus, these factors should be identified anddefined early in the developmental process --otherwise the developmental program may be

27

incompatible with the realities that influenceits success or failure.

I do not mean to imply that limits,once identified, are forever fixed. Tradeoffscan sometimes be made. Ongoing develop-ment may suggest that resources once thoughtadequate will no longer suffice, that con-strain'.g once thought acceptable are in'olerable,or contexts once thought ideal are only secondbest. It seems important, though, that flexi-bility not be confused with either indifferenceto reality or with vagueness in defining one'ssituation.

DELIMIT THE REGION OF CONCERN

I have chosen to approach the issue ofhow one might go about deciding what to teachfrom the viewpoint of defining educational ob-jectives. Let us agree to mean by objectivea statement or understanding of what it is wewant to achieve with the educational process.Although there are many legitimate goals forthe educational establishment (Gardner, 1960),the quintessence of my concern will be withbehavioral objectives. By a behavioral ob-jective I mean any statement or understandingof what it is we want the learner to be able todo at the end of an educational experience.

By choosing behavioral objectives asthe principal vehicle for defining what it is wewant to be taught, I do not mean to imply thatother approaches to selection of educationalcontent are not valid. It does seem to me,however, that behavioral objectives for edu-cation do have a peculiar relevance and facilityfor supporting the choice of what is to betaught.

I approach the der'vation of objectiveswith considerable humility, both because itis an area in which a number of persons whosework I greatly admire have labored manyyears and because it is inherently a difficultone. Nevertheless, it is of such crucial im-portance to the educational development enter-prise that I feel we must be alert to any reason-able prospects for advancing the state-of-the-art and implementing such technique improve-ments in developmental programs. I cannot

28

IIdentify resources, con-straints, and cortexts

Identify milieu forces

Delimit the re-gion of concern

Define an ideological base

cri-

teria of successDefine the cri-

Structure a region of criterion behavior

Establish a basis for sampling behavior

Analyze behnvior

Organize and se-quence objectives

Define media

Dorelop instructionalmaterials and procedures

Conduct preliminary tryouts

11(

Implement use of materials

Evaluate program

Figure 1. A Schematic Overview of Steps inEducational Program Development

help but feel there are reasonable prospectsfor improvements in methods of deriving edu-cational objectives which are sufficiently closeto warrant consideration.

I am led to this conclusion by morethan simple faith. Our own efforts to expandthe definition of systematic derivation of ob-jectives in the development of the Quincy,Massachusetts vocational-technical curricu-lum (American Institute for Research, 19651,1965b), in deriving vocational measures forthe national assessment program (Rosenfeld,Kowal, & Seiler, 1965), in studies for theFord Foundation of ways in which vocationalcapabilities might be described (Altman,1966d), and in defining directions for the in-tegration of vocational education to the American Vocational Association (Altman, 1965)suggest the possibility of greater freedomfrom tradition and more opportunity forrigorous methodology than do approacheswhich have been more generally enunciated.

Perhaps we can agree without detailedargument to the following four general pro-positions.

1. Processes of both analysis andsynthesis can serve derivation of objectives.Analysis or deduction can serve to breakhighly abstract general domains or areas ofactivity into more specific and useful pieces.Synthesis or induction, on the other hand, canhelp to clarify ways in which sample behaviorsmight represent the plethora of possible be-haviors implied by any broad area at humanactivity.

2. There is a role for both contentspecialists and behavior analysts in the de-rivation of educational objectives. This isnot to say that these roles cannot be morefully and differently defined than in the past.Neither is it to imply prior prejudice as to thedomain of experience which leads to the great-est content expertise. Certainly it admits ofthe possibility that content relevance maycome from outside the educational establish-ment.

3. A hierarchy or taxonomy of be-havioral processes is one crucial aspect of

29

any serious effort to establish a significanteducational enterprise. Bloom (1956) andKrathwohl, Bloom, and Masia (1964) haveprovided the classic demonstration that dif-ferent behavioral levels have their own uniqueevaluation and measurement aspects. Gagne(1965a) has detailed the different conditionsrequired for effective learning of differentlevels of behavior. Elsewhere, I have de-tailed the types of errors (Altman, 1966a) andcritical variables in generalization of learn-ing (Altman, 1966b) associated with differentlevels of behavior. All of this suggests thatattention to the complexity level of behaviorsimplied by objectives can have important edu-cational implications.

4. No practical educational experiencecan be devoid of content or context. All be-havior has finite stimulus and responseboundaries. Further, it is practicable tothink of simultaneous analysis of educationalobjectives in terms of content and behavioralprocess levels (Altman, 1966c).

Granting agreement on the above fourpoints, does this necessarily lead us to aconclusion that we are ready to go beyondtechniques implied by behavior analysts suchas Tyler (1934), Gagne (1965b), and Mager(1962)? I think not. The above four pointsand the demand for being specific about be-havior implied by objectives do not lead usbeyond the current state-of-the-art. Whatthen is the critically needed factor to insuremore cogent educational objectives than thoseto which we have been led in the past? Iwould suggest that it is simply this: explicitderivation of objectives from a behavioraldomain other than existing courses or dis-ciplines.

Where, other than existing disciplinesand courses, can one find an appropriatedomain of behaviors? Obviously, in the arenaof behaviors associated with being an effec-tive student, of concurrent behaviors outsidethe role of student, of education and trainingperformance after leaving the educationalexperience being developed, and of otherpost-gradiration behavior. It's a complex

30

arena. No wonder we tend to shrink fromconfronting it and repeatedly take refuge inthe tidier arena of existing disciplines. Eventhe most tangible part of the broader arena,vocations, includes thousands of jobs -- andit is only recently that we have learned tomake relatively precise training derivationsfrom the more prescribed jobs.

I would contend that we will makesignificant future progress only when we quithoping that reshuffling existing disciplinesand salting them with the easy captures ofobvious new trends in the external (outsideschool) world will somehow get us out of thecurriculum box we are in. This, I fear, isall too analogous to hoping that faster rotationof an eccentric wheel will get us to the moon.

If we are to make a frontal attack onthat awesome arena for which we are alreadypurporting to educate, how might we grapplewith it in such a way that there will be atleast a fighting chance of bending it to ourwill? It seems to me that the most criticalpoint is to select the region of referent be-havior where we expect the educational ex-periences under development to pay off.There are at least three major aspects of anyregion of interest which require delineation.They are:

1. The population and subpopulationsof concern. Delineation includes assumed in-put characteristics, bases for specific ex-clusion from the region of concern, durationsof exposure to the educational process underdevelopment, known implications of differentsubgroups for the educational system.

2. The time frame. This includes adefinition of the period of time over which thecriterion behaviors are expected to occur.In particular, it is aimed at delineating thenominal period of greatest relevance for thedescription of criterion behaviors (e.g., isit intended to be a description of what gradu-ates now do or a description of what graduatesare forecast to be doing ,en years in thefuture?) and probable trends around theperiod of maximum relevance for the descrip-tion.

3. The boundaries of behavior to beconsidered within and outside the region ofconcern. For example, is behavior as aresident outside the United States to be in-cluded or excluded from explicit considera-tion? Are we concerned only with behavioron the job or are we also concerned with be-havior in the family, in the community?

DEFINE AN IDEOLOGICAL BASE

A great deal of confusion and unproduc-tive activity can be avoided if a clear commit-ment to guiding policy can be made early in thedevelopment process. Essentially, this is amatter of establishing a basis for decidingpriorities. Without such a basis, it is un-likely that choices among the infinitude ofalternatives faced in educational developmentwill follow any coherent pattern.

I have found no easy, or even satis-factory, way to classify educational ideologies(a unified and consistent set of values concern-ing the objectives of education). Indeed, re-cent writers such as Alberty and Alberty(1962, Ch. 2) decline to attempt any real in-tegration even though they document a numberof efforts by others to do so. My own suspic-ion is that educational ideology is inherentlymultidimensional but classification schemeshave been able to reflect only a small numberof variables. In any event, it seems clearthat educational ideologies have varied in theircommitment along at least the following dimen-sions:

1. Time orientation. Some philoso-phers have emphasized that only systems ofknowledge that have stood the test of time areworthy of being taught. Others have contendedthat education has value only insofar as it pre-pares students for their future.

2. Individualism. Some philosophershave emphasized development of individualpotential as the chief goal of education.Others have stressed the need for educationto serve the established values of the society.Of course, many have endeavored to achieverapprochement. John Gardner (1961, 1963)

has made notable efforts along these lines.3. Individualization. It is easy to con-

fuse the issue of individual orientation versussocial orientation (individualism) with theissue o.? valuing diversity versus conformity(individualization). Yet, they are different.It is possible to value individual developmentabove all else in education, but to have asingle model of idealized man toward whichthe development of each individual is to bebent. Conversely, it is possible to have apluralistic model for society which demandsdiversity of education to meet its needs.

4. Achievement orientation. Somewould contend that educational experiencescan be justified only on the basis of definiteand observable changes on the part of thelearner. Others would contend that there areexperiences in youth having merit in their ownright, not dependent upon external criteria oflearning.

5. Political commitment. In Ameri-can education, democratic processes in theschool and preparation for a xole in demo-cratic society have been highly valued byphilosophers (although authoritarian teachingof democratic principles has perhaps charac-terized most practice). There are others whofeel that democracy represents too restricteda framework to serve as the sole focus ofeducation. It is interesting to note, perhaps,that most of the debate has not centeredaround this issue but rather around the identi-fication of appropriate democratic values andthe methods by which they can best be taught.

6. Cultural spread. Regardless ofone's ultimate commitment to democraticvalues, it is possible to debate the value ofteaching from a narrow versus a broad baseof extant or extinct cultures. Of course, thisissue is not limited to national definitions, asillustrated by the current debate concerningthe teaching of middle-class values in deprivedurban areas.

7. Morality. There is in Americaneducation a great deal of ambiguity concerningthe appropriateness of the institution accept-ing and transmitting guidelines for individualand social action. Whether such guidelines

31

should be taught at all, the level of detailappropriate -- from the cardinal principlesto folkways, and the extent of absolutismversus situational relativism are all moot.

8. Utility. American society hasfrequently been criticized for its emphasison economic values. American education,particularly vocational education, has oftenshared this preoccupation. Yet, it is neitherirrelevant nor impertinent to suggest thataesthetic values may have a useful role in de-termining what should be taught in vocationalcurricula (Macdonald, 1966).

9. Generalization. The nature andextent of learning transferred from one situa-tion to another is largely an empirical-psy-chological question, even though most of thedefinitive work remains yet to be done (Altman,1966b; Dallett, 1965; Houston, 1964; Martin,1965; Wimer, 1964). Even if all of the em-pirical questions concerning the characteristicsof transfer were answered, there would stillremain important questions concerning the ex-tent to which direct and specific transfer froma learning situation to an arena of applicationshould be sought.

10. Commitment. Educators vary wide-ly on the degree to which they are committedto any particular set of values. Some holdconsistent values across time and situation.Others quite successfully accept conflictingvalues within a given educational context, leav-ing it to human adaptability to reconcile dis-sonance. Indeed, the degree of commitmentor eclecticism is not clear in most educationalpractice.

I would contend that a proper generalprocedure for defining educational objectivesis one which can accommodate a wide varietyof choice across all of the above dimensions.However, any given educational program de-velopment can be seen as requiring, or atleast being facilitated by, some ideologicalcommitment.

DEFINE CRITERIA OF SUCCESS

There is another aspect of educational

32

philosophy which bears an important relation-ship to the definition of educational objectives.This aspect is the vigorous new trend (Wheel-er, 1967) toward philosophical analysis of edu-cational problems ana processes. I would seethe need for formally developed educationalprograms to meet the criteria of:

1. Existentialism, in providing forexperiences which will square with the sub-jective impact of those referent situationsof which they are intended to be samples oranalogs.

2. Logical (essentially linguistic)analysis, in being at least internally compat-ible and not demonstrably false on the face ofinternal evidence.

3. Science, in being compatible withthe weight of evidence external to the objec-tives and their derivation process, andespecially in squaring with the law of parsi-mony.

4. Pragmatism, in being relevantto and serving the purposes which motivateda search for the answer to "what should weteach."

Thus, we can see educational philoso-phy as impacting on the derivation of objec-tives in two ways -- in defining the valueswhich will guide selection priorities and inproviding a basis for criticism of the productsof our creative efforts. A set of epistemo-logical issues remains for discussion in thenext section.

STRUCTURE A REGION OF CRITERIONBEHAVIOR

Organized structures of knowledge cangreatly facilitate decisions concerning what toteach, particularly since learning rray befacilitated by organization and structuring ofthe instruction. It is imperative that theindividual seeking an answer to what to teachhave a more satisfactory method than simplyreaching for the nearest wooden horse becauseit happens to be near, even if it does come inthe form of the latest structuring of the

disciplines.As Phenix (1964a) has pointed out,

the principles and practice of ordering know-ledge into systematic categories provide". . . a valuable resource for curriculum-makers. How that resource is used is anotherquestion (p. 45). " 1 am fully in agreementwith that view. Elsewhere (Phenix, 1964b)he has suggested in detail how realms ofmeaning can imply scope, content, organiza-tion, and sequence for curriculum. Here, 1must demur. During the same conferencein which Phenix outlined his realms of mean-ing, Tykociner (1964) described quite a dif-ferent structuring of areas of knowledge. Ican see no reason why a curriculum developeris compelled to accept one structure to theexclusion of another. In addition, Bel lack(1964), in summarizing this conference, haspointed out that a school's responsibilitiesoften extend beyond teaching organized fields.

In any event, if we can agree that avail-able structures of knowledge (primarily thosecurrent with practitioners and only coincidental-ly those used in education) can serve as usefulhandmaidens to educational development, per-haps it will be possible to describe a usefulrole for the disciplines in structuring regionsof criterion behavior without becoming en-snared into the traditional teaching of dis-ciplines.

Structuring the region of interest iscritical both to insure that coverage is com-prehensive and that specifics are not generatedcod of proportion to the importance of a givensubregion. The structuring process involvesthe following six steps, each of which willprobably require some degree of iteration:

1. Identify and delimit major non-overlapping areas of criterion behavior. Weshould note that non-overlapping here meansnot involving the same social context. It doesnot necessarily imply that the behaviors to befound in these different contexts may not beclosely related or even identical. Some of theareas at the most gross level might be dif-ferentiated by factors such as in-school orout-of-school; prior to graduation or after

graduation (or dropout); vocational, citizenship,or self-actualization behavior; etc.

2. Identify the best sources of analytic,capability and data relating to each area. Thisprocess will interact dynamically with evolvingstructure of the region of interest. As increas-ing resolution of the structure is accomplished,it will become possible to evaluate sources ofinformation in greater detail. Some of thegeneral kinds of sources for structuring (andlater analyzing) each major area include:

a. Competent practitioners,observers, and commentators.

b. Documentation used bypractitioners in the field.

c. Descriptive models,relevant research, and other literature(such as formal knowledge structures)relating to the area.3. Identify and define the principal

dimensions serving to structure each area.4. Define a structure for each area.

Begin with a preliminary structure, trying itout against specific examples of relevant per-formance and expert judgment. Continue ex-panding and modifying the structure until itwill handle all relevant specific examples withfacility. This is not the place to derive an ex-haustive listing of all relevant performances,but only to obtain reasonable assurance thatthe structure would have decent skeletal homo-morphism with the total body of performancesshould they ever be exhaustively described.

ESTABLISH A BASIS FOR SAMPLINGBEHAVIOR

There is almost no significant educa-tional development having a region of referentcriterion behavior which can practicably bedescribed in exhaustive specific detail. Thus,one must either accept abstraction and sampl-ing or entirely abandon the attempt to deriveeducational content from a presumed region ofapplication. The difficulty with developmentsin the past is not that they abstracted or sampl-ed, but rather, that the referent is either sogeneral as to be vague or left unstated. Themajor plea here is to be explicit atout the

33

method and results of abstracting and sampl-ing. By abstracting, I mean a kind of short-hand which implies clearly the essential charac-teristics of criterion performance without de-scribing it in precise detail. By sampling, Imean selecting from a larger set of possiblecriterion performances (and it may be almostinfinite) some smaller set for description andanalysis.

This is hardly the place to review theextensive and accessible body of knowledgeconcerning sampling theory and practice (Kish,1965). There are, however, three points whichhave unique relevance:

1. The structure framework discussedin the previous section should serve as a directcontributor to the definition of a samplingframe.

2. The sampling bases and weights forchoosing from among different hierarchicallevels (e.g., tasks versus specific behaviors)may be quite different.

3. The notion of sampling on basesother than frequency of occurrence in the popu-lation of behaviors in the presumed region ofapplication is entirely valid.

4. Random sampling in this contextimplies enumerating at the outset all of thebehavioral units from which sampling is totake place. Singe avoidance of the exhaustivework involved in making such an enumerationis a primary motive, a kind of quota samplingseems much more arrropriate for the moredetailed behavioral levels.

With the establishment of a basis forsampling criterion behavior, we have complet-ed the steps which I would contend have beenmost slighted in educational development. Theremaining steps have a more adequate method-ological base. Consequently, for the remain-ing steps, we will provide only a limited dis-cussion -- primarily limited to placing thesteps in context and suggesting references tomore detailed descriptions.

ANALYZE BEHAVIOR

Giien the delineation of referent

34

activities a. d sampling frame implied above,it should now be possible to proceed with arelatively straightforward task descriptionand analysis. We will not try to summarizethese procedures, since they are alreadydescribed in detail elsewhere (Altman, 1966d;Miller, 1962). Suffice it here merely toidentify the principal steps implied in thisprocess:

1. Identify the obvious clusters ofactivities which might be performed by anyone individual or team of individuals.

2. For each cluster or conglomerateof activities:

a. Define the characteristicsof the population likely to engage inthem.

b. Identify the principal pur-pose(s) and modes of accomplishment.

c. Organize by time-sequ-ence.

d. Organize by functionalrelationship.

e. identify contingencies inand contexts of performance.3. Enumerate tasks, eliminating

obviously inappropriate and redundant items.4. Describe tasks, including:

a. Objects acted upon.b. Information guiding action.c. Tasks.d. Actions, including sequ-

ence, stimulus, processing, andresponse aspects.

e. Indications of completionof action.

ORGANIZE AND SEQUENCE OBJECTIVES

Up to this point, we have been talkingessentially about behavior outside of theschool, except insofar as we might use somelater phase of education or training as areferent context for designing an earlier phase.Now, however, we must come to grips with theproblem of bringing behavior within the con-fines of pedogogical considerations. The ref-erent behaviors identified in the previous steps

are the starting point for the derivation,organization, and sequencing of educationalobjectives.

Tyler (1964) has suggested that oneof the persistent problems in defining educa-tional objectives is a tendency to confuseclarity with a high degree of specificity. Whatis essential is clarity of the behavior desiredof the student, not maximum specificity.

Briggs {1967) very recently completedan exhaustive review of available knowledgeconcerning the sequencing of instruction inrelation to hierarchies of competence. He un-covered a great deal of useful information,many obvious holes in our data and understand-ing, and no operational routinee that wouldguarantee optimum organization or sequencing.However, there are some steps that seemclearly to be useful, if not essential to ration-al. development:

1. Translate behaviors represetativeof the criterion situation into terminal objec-tives -- that is, statements of task perfor-mance judged suitable for the student uponsuccessful completion of the educational ex-perience under development. Thus, manyof the specifics of the criterion context willneed to be made less specific and complex.

2. Derive the subordinate capabilities(interim objectives) by woi king backwardsfrom terminal objectives (Gagne, 1966). Theprerequisites of given unit of content are thatset of capabilities which, if previously ac-quired, would permit the learning of thegiven unit under a single set of learning con-ditions (Gagne, 1965a).

3. Continue the analysis of terminaltask components until a level of simplicityis reached where it can be assumed that thecapabilities are possessed by the student.

4. Group the behavioral hierarchiesfrom the above according to:

a. Stimulus similarity.b. Response similarity.c. Homogeneity of psychologic-

al processes (Altman, 1966d).d. Presumed optimum effec-

tive (motivational) impact.

2ence.

e. Administrative conveni-

1. Aesthetic preferences.

DEVELOP PERFORMANCE MEASURES

There is a well-developed technologywhich would be gratuitous to attempt tosummarize here. Probably Glaser and Klaus(1962) have provided the most relevant sum-mary. Horst (1966) recently completed anoverview of the entire psychological measure-ment field, much of it relevant to the designand evaluation of proficiency measures.

DEFINE MEDIA

Briggs, Campeau, Gagne, and May(196?) recently summarized findings relativeto different types of instructional media andpresented a set of procedures that dovetailwith the general outline of educational develop-ment suggested here. I shall not attempt toabstract their extensive work but recommendreference to it to anyone selecting media ofinstruction from a set of educational objec-tives. It is perhaps worth underscoring herethe need to take into account both individualdifferences (Gagne, 1967) and the develop-mental stage of the target population (Bloom,1964).

DEVELOP INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALSAND PROCEDURES

Here, too, is a well-developed techno-logy which I shall not attempt to summarize.The essential features of this design prccessare probably most accessible from the areaof programmed instruction (Glaser, 1965).

CONDUCT PRELIMINARY TRYOUTS -EVALUATE PROGRAM

Lumsdaine (1965) has provided a de-tailed overview of the considerations andprocedures involved in the assessment ofinstructional programs. Perhaps the mostrefreshing aspect of the programmed

35

instruction approach to tryout and evaluationis the onus put on the development team todemonstrate educational value and the accept-ance of empirical results as a basis for repeat-ed revision, until satisfactory learning is a-chieved by the target audience. Markle (1967),in multimedia program development, has madeempirical tryout an integral part of virtuallythe entire design process. Campbell andStanley (1963) have provided perhaps the mostcogent treatment of experimental and quasi-experimental designs to aid evaluation.

The methods and purposes of prelimin-ary tryout and final program evaluation areoverlapping and sometimes indistinguishable.However, preliminary tryout tends to be moredi,eected at program modification during thedesign process, whereas final evaluation ofthe program is more suggestive of the ap-propriate scope of operational implementationand provides a legacy of basic information thatcan be useful in the initiation of new develop-mental efforts.

IMPLEMENT USE OF MATERIALS

There is a slowly accumulating bodyof eAdence concerning the conditions underwhich educational innovations are accepted byinstructional personnel and the community.It would clearly be premature to claim, how-ever, that there is a technology for gainingacceptance. The one factor that does standout, though, is the need to give the intendedinstructional personnel adequate opportunityto gain a feeling of participation, to be orient-ed and trained in the requirements of theinnovation, to have their questions fullyanswered, and to ventilate their feelings, bothpositive and negative.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION

What has all the foregoing to do withthe contribution vocational- technical educationcan make to the individual student, either atthe secondary or post-secondary level? Overthe long haul, obviously a great deLl. As

36

educational development becomes increasinglyanalytic, coherent, and explicit, it may be-come meaningful to think in terms of optimiz-ing functions such as making educational ex-periences maximally relevant to probablelater-life requirements. In terms of theimmediate implications for the contributionof vocational-technical education, the pictureis much less clear. I would suggest, though,that the technology of education and trainingdevelopment permits:

1. Accommodation to the inter-individual differences that characterize allago and grade levels. This means that voca-tional-technical education at both secondaryand post-secondary levels can break out ofthe mold of skill achievement being tied totime spent. For equal expenditure of time,students can be at quite different skill levels-- with different implications for their e..trylevel on the career ladder.

2. Accommodation to antra- individualdifferences such that each individual can bequalified across a different profile of jobs.

3. Truly specific job training to bemuch more efficient than was once the ease.

4. A much more integrated andflexible melding of vocational and non-voca-tional educational experiences, combined witha more precise knowledge of the student abouthimself and his probabilities of success infuture courses of action (Cooley & Lohnes,1966, Ch. 11).

5. Much more realistic informationabout the degree of irrevocability and/or

cost when various educational decisions aremade.

6. An opportunity to move fromsecondary to post-secondary vocational-technical education with maximum positivetransfer and minimum waste.

NEW EFFORTS

If these additional capabilities to con-tribute to individual welfare are to be ex-ploited, the following efforts will be required:

1. The formation and support ofdevelopment teams including genuine expertisein the relevant behavioral technology.

2. Explication and commitment to thevalues out of which educational objectives andthe supporting materials can be derived.

3. Certification of products of thenew educational experiences according towhat they have demonstrated they can do, intern's meaningful to the vocations they willenter.

4. A degree of specificity and accessi-bility of cost records, which has not charac-terized most school systems, that will supportcost-effectiveness analyses for specific educa-tional programs and units of instruction.

5. Willingness to accept performancemeasurement as an inherent part of the qualitycontrol process, not just for students but alsofor the instructional system.

6. A new level of allocating resourcesto analysis, evaluation, and planning as con-trasted to operation and maintenance of theinstructional system.

FOCTNOTES

'Whether an element is considered a resource or a constraint is largely dependent uponone's point of view. The limits on any resource can be conceived as a constraint and the regionwithin any constraint can be conceived as a resource.

2lnteracts with and is largely dependent upon the choice of media.

37

Alberty, H. B., & Alberty, E. J. Reorganizing the high-school curriculum. (3rd ed.)New York: Macmillan, 1962.

Altman, J. W. Toward a concept of integrated vocational education. Paper presented atthe American Vocational Association convention, Miami, Decemher 1965.

Altman, J. W. Classification of human error. Paper presented at the American Psycho-logical Association, New York, September 1966. (a)

Altman, J. W. Generalization of vocational performance. Paper presented at theAmerican Vocational Association convention, Denver, December 1966. (b)

Altman, J. W. General vocational capabilities (skills and knowledges). Paper presentedat the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, February 1966. (c)

Altman, J. W. Research on general vocational capabilities (skills and knowledges).Pittsburgh: American Institutes for Research, March 1966. (d)

Altman, J. W., & Morrison, E. J. School and community factors in employment successof trade and industry course graduates. Pittsburgh: American Institutes for Research, August 1966.

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Eninger, M. U. The process and product of T & I high school level vocational education inthe United States, Pittsburgh: American Institutes for Research, September 1965.

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invited address at the meetings of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago,February 1966.

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Rhoda W. Baruch*

REACTION

Dr. Altman's paper (1967) is a well-organized, well-explicated discussion of the steps in-volved in the process of educational program development. It is sound and indisputable; I find my-self in general agreement. I was asked to respond and I can neither further clarify nor contestwhat has been presented. Dr. Altman starts with the assumptions that change will be occurringat an accelerating rate and that it is worth our while to pay some attention to the processes by whichwe try to guide those changes. lie observes that the central focus has been on curriculum and doesnot expect this emphasis to change. His central question, then, 'wolves deciding what to teach,what to accomplish and he sets himself the important task of providing a technological base for edu-cational program development.

How to guide these changes, he asks.These changes which are occurring have tin-plications for our allocation of resources, in-volving a shift from investment in maintenanceof our programs to allocation of resources fordevelopment of new programs. Dr. Altmanrecommends that a role or team be institutedand charged with the business of changing anddeveloping programs. Dr. Altman suppliessomething of a technological base for carryingout such development. He points out that thelater stages of development tend to be easier;the early phase is generally more difficult toarticulate, involving as it does the very pro-blem statement and the criteria which wemay wish to achieve. In the early stages ofthe process, we must identify the milieuforces identify the resources, constraints andcontents; and delimit our region of concern.At this point we need to define an ideologicalbase and the criteria of success.

The system hangs together well butrests heavily on the crucial step "Define the

criteria of success." It is true that once thismuch has been done, the rest falls into place.What do we want the educational process toaccomplish? It is in connection with this stepin the process as Altman describes It and theprior step, that of defining an ideologicalbase, that possibly my comments and workcan augment the Altman model. We start witha clear system of analysia supplied by Altmanand I am afraid what I shall add is a certainelement of disorder and confusion. I want toincrease the entropy of the system. Altman'sconcern is with the teacher or curriculumdesigner who is confronted with the need tomake a decision about what to teach and heprovides a framework within which the decisioncan be analyzed and made. I want to shift ourfocus to the student and the later product ofthe v9cational-technical education system andto maintain that among the behavioral objec-tives of the education process (and we can in-clude guidance-in-education here) 'a the inclu-sion of the mastery of a decision- making

*Dr. Baruch is Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard University.

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process or schema similar to the one pro-vided by Altman for the curriculum designer.During the school years while teachers aredeciding what to include in the curriculum andwhat to teach, students ought to be decidingwhat to learn and to what they should be payingattention.

Mary Jean Bowman (196?) spoke ofeconomics as the science of decision-makingand Altman provides us with an excellentmodel quite "generalizable" for going aboutmaking a set of decisions. Can we get everyvo, .ational-technical school graduate to becomeas adept as Mary Jean Bowman or James Alt-man in this process of decision-making? Doesthat sound too grand and unrealistic? Thereare those in our society, philosophers,scientists, who maintain that "The power ofdeciding is what makes men human" and"Human existence emerges out of decision-making activities." In our vocational-technicaleducation, we want to avoid dehumanization andsubjugation of the man to the larger organiza-tion or 0-.e machines. Autonotimus men whocan exercise choices freely become ourcriterion for the output of the "system" orschool program.

It has become extremely important forus to reaffirm our free will and to assert thisdecision-making as an essential part of thehuman existence. I have speculated about thisquestion, why it has become so important tous at this time to emphasize the power er de-ciding. There are many reasons one mightgive: for one thing the presence of computersthat can "think" jeopardizes man's formeruniqueness in this regard. But, we respond,man still has his will. Also with the preval-ence of change, we cannot rely on old certain-ties and traditions and we have to decide manythings formerly accepted. Again, we havebeen exposed to and are aware of powerfuleconomic forces and overwhelming scientificforces which make people feel awfully small,helpless, powerless. With expost.re to masscommunication, we have such an enormoushomogenizing force that once again we seemto want to protest and assert some individual-ity through choices and decisions,

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In Guidance, the professed goal issomething various people call "a sense ofagency," "a personally determined career,"an independent decision-maker," "a conscious

artist of one's own career," one who can bearthe responsibility for choice and decisions.One rationale for guidance, Van Kaam (1965)suggests, is that a person cc.n regain his free-dom in this one sector of life. I would like toinsert this kind of ideological orientation intoDr. Altman's ideological base. If it has limit-ed significance for curriculum development,then it is more appropriately a guidance goal,but should be part of the same base for voca-tional-technical program development. Aninteresting distinction made by Tiedeman andMorley (1966) may be relevant here. Theyspeak of vocational success in youth and adult-hood today as dependent on two kinds of com-petence. The first they call OccupationalCompetence which is competence in acquiringand using the skills and knowledge requiredby the individual's commitment to a particularprogram or occupation. The second they callVocational Competence which Involves com-petence In dealing with changes in the vocation-al life in a manner which will enable the in-dividual to achieve and maintain a continuingdegree of mastery over his vocational environ-ment. Morley's study (196?) of adults under-going a career crisis of losing one's jobillustrates varying degrees of vocational com-petence, Her study of men coping with thetask of re-establishing career structure dis-rupted by their employer's bankruptcy sh::wssome real differences in the strategies em-ployed in cold-1g with the crisis. She citesone example of a masterly adaptive responsepattern and others of varying degrees ofvocational competence. Some men were tunedin to the Impending crisis much sooner thanothers and prepared solutions which theycould implement at the time of the bankruptcy.One took the opportunity t) 'better himself."The others were either quiescent or utterlydefeated by the loss of wo':k. The notion ofvocational competence as something describ-able and separate from occupational skillsand occupational compete' ce is the one I want

42

to suggest as complementing the behavioralgoals and objectives considered by Altman.

A small research project which I under-took several years ago when I was Irkingwith Anne Roe 11964) involved studying thedecision-making process of adults who hadJust made some major changes in vocations.Some were in fact in MDTA programs oradult vocational-technical education programs.Others in that study included bank officers, orinsurance company employees such as theformer Marine recruiting officer who becamea group underwriter, a computer programmerwho went into teaching, a bakery dough-rollerwho became a warehouse order checker, etc.There were some diversity in the levels andkinds of jobs represented. All had madechanges within the year. When asked to tellabout how they came into their present lineof work, most people did not seem to think ofthemselves as decision-makers, They didwhat they considered they had to do, withoutany alternatives visible to them. They apolo-gized for a "random process" in their choices;they emphasized contingencies and externalinfluences. They tended to dc ,y, eitherexplicitly, or by the way they told their stories,that they had or valued freedom of choice in sofar as their positions and vocations were con-cerned. Their careers, including majorchanges, just happened to them; as one subjectput it, "I don't think I had really ever decidedanything or thought about it at great length.You just go on." Although in this study, wehad a problem solving model which I wantedto apply to people's decision- making, I foundI could not do so because of the denial ofautonomy. Two subjects, in another relatedstudy, college professors, also presentedthemselves as "fortune's darling" or "I livedmy destiny." Maybe people are escapingfrom freedom, as Erich Fromm suggests.Perhaps there are realms of more relevanceor saliet.oe for the expression of the kind ofautonom: I was interested In. I define autono-my as the

1) concern with or conscious-ness of exercise of will or choice

2) a sense of a capacity for

making the choice.3) an awareness of existing

alternatives for choice and action.This definition is like Riesman's (1954) use ofautonomy, which he says, "requires self-awareness about the fact of choice, about possi-ible ways of living."

In my current research, I define fiverealms of autonomy where exercise of will,choice, decision-making may or may not beacknowledged. For example, there is thisrealm of vocational development. There is alsothe realm of daily work, and by choosing agroup of self-employed men as LAjects, Ifound much autonomy expressed in this realmof their life. These men make many decisionsduring the course of their day's work and ac-knowledge :heir responsibility about choosingand deciding. These self-employed men in-clude a variety of artisans and craftsmen: asculptor, printer, stained glass designer,goldsmith, picture framer, sh7e repair man,floor waxer, food broker, appliance repairrnan, etc. They are the affirmers of freedomof choice - the non-organization men. Someof them exercise autonomy In the develop-ment of their careers as well. The otherrealms which I designate as possible realmsfor the expression of autonomy include thepolitical, consumer behavior, and personalbehaviors. We are in the process of analyzingthe interviews and test materials, and I believewe can develop measurable criteria for suchconcepts as a sense of autonomy in the realmof their daily work or in their career develop-ment. Let me describe the way we go aboutthis. We ask people, "How did you get Intothis line of work," as one of several suchprobes. We have developed a system of con-tent analysis of these interview materials.First, we note whether there Is recognitionof existence of a decision-relevant problem,or whether this decision- relevance is deniedor delegated. We also rate responses accord-ing to the exploration of environmental re-sources. (Altman calls the correspondingsteps, identifying the milieu forces; identify-ing the resources; contraints and contexts,etc. The similarity of the models Is evident).

We find in some of these subjects what we call"creative opportunism. " These subjects arenot only aware of alternatives, they frequentlycreate alternatives and options. And wecanrate them on exploitation of chance, fate, laws,advice, or other external resources. I amlearning from these subjects. There is a modeof using these external factors in creating acareer, rather than in being victimized bythese factors. They use frequently expressionssuch as, "I decided," "I saw the chance,""I saw the possibility of." Involved in ourmeasure of autonomy, which we are still inthe process of developing, is else an explora-tion of the self, with personal resources, needsand limitations all possibly considered. Ourstudy of adult careers may lead us to a betterconception and assessment of autonomy, acriterion which I would submit as an additionalgoal of vocational-technical education.

Tnrough the content of vocational-technical education, I can see a person develop-

FOOTNOTES

43

ing a sense of his own efficacy in making anddoing things, a sense of occupational compet-ence. Through complementary guidanceservice and introduction of choices and deci-sion-making situations in the school setting,I can see a person developing the sense ofautonomy that can help direct a later lifein a world full of change and uncertainties.With research and continued effort, I can seeeven such criteria as a "sense of efficacy"or a "sense of autonomy" come within thescope of measurable behavioral objectives.And Altman's model of decision, proposedand useful for the educational programplanner, finds further applicability as itfilters through the system to be mastered bythe vocational student for developing the pro-gram of his life and planning for the inevitablechanges in such programs.

Altman, J. W. A behavioral view of vocational-technical education. Symposium onvocational-technical education: Prospectus for change, 28 and 29 November 1967, Boston,Massachusetts.

Bowman, Mary Jean, Decisions for vocational education. Ibid.Morley, Eileen. The career crisis of losing one's job. Harvard Studies In Career

Development No. 53. Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Research in Careers, Harvard University,1007.

RIestaan, D. Individualism reconsidered and other essays. Glencoe; The Free Press,1954.

Roe, Anne & Baruch, Rhoda. Factors influencing occupational decisions: a pilot study.Harvard Studies in Career Development No. 32, Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Research inCareers, Harvard University, 1934.

Tiehman, D. V., & Morley, Eileen, Guidance and vocational competence: a theory formeal practice. Harvard Studies in Career Development No. 43, Cambridge, Center forResearch in Ca.eers, Harvard University, 1966.

Van Kaam, A. Counseling from the view point of existential psychology. In Mosher, R. L.,Carle, R. F. & Kehas, C. D. (Eds.) Guidance: an examination. New York: Harcourt, Brace, andWorld, Inc., 1965. Pp. 66-81.

SOCIOLOGY

Marvin B. Sussman*

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES AND VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

The problems of vocational education are bound inextricably with the meanings and functionsof work in the changing technological panorama. In order to obtain a comprehensive view of thepresent state of vocational education and its place in the overall world of work, it is necessary toconsider the meaning of work through history and today, the value and function of work in the con-temporary society, and what impact changes in social systems and values will have on work in thefuture.

The varying historical interpretationsof work demonstrate that dynamic and future-oriented planning is imperative. It is star-tling how relatively new are most of our pre-sent-day commonly held assumptions abutthe realm of work. Change is not a processto be held back; the Heraclitan stream flowson whether or not we admit its eternal pro-gress. Even now technological advances andsocial upheavals are carving new patterns in-to the schemata of institutional systems andsocial functioning. These inscriptions areman-made, but not clearly visible to every-one. It is the aim of this paper to examinevocational education from a sociologicalperspective and to unde. line what new ef-forts need be undertaken to make the worldof work more viable and to match the paceof social change.

a...1111MersoMille am.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Through history the meanings of theterm "work" have undergone striking trans-formations. The Greek word for work,"ponos," has the same root as the Latin"poena" designating sorrow. Work was thusa curse; according to Homer, the gods outof hatred foir mankind condemned men to alife of toil. Further, the relationship of theactive life to the contemplative life was simi-lar to that of war to peace. As battles are.fought so that there may be peace, activity,in the ideal sense, eventually culminates incontemplation. The Grcek belief was that"truth" can be revealed only in stillness, andman's highest endeavor was the pursuit oftruth. Thus work was an intervention, aburden man bore because he was chained tonecessity. 2

* Dr. Sussman is Professor and Chairman, Department of Sociology, Case-Western ReserveUniversity.

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The Hebrew tradition and primitiveChristianity regarded work as a punishmentlaid on man by God. The Talmud states: "Ifman does not find his food like animals andbirds but must earn it, thA is due to sin. "3Later, however, work became an instrumentof purification, charity, and expiation; it wasgood to share the fruits of work with the poor.As Weber well documented in his classic piece,Thq Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capital-ism, Calvinism brought a new attitude towardlabor, binding the tie between economic gainand spiritual salvation. It is God's will thatmen must work; only through toil may theyprove their worth, their election to the King-dom of God. This brand of "worldly ascetic-ism," demanding methodical, disciplined, andrational work, laid the foundation for the divi-sion of labor and the expansion of the indus-trial order. The stewardship of riches pro-vided a philosophical rationale for a socialstratification system. It permitted recogni-tion of distinctions in wealth, prestige, andpower and the requirement that those in con-trol of society take care of those not so for-tunate, on a minimum level of sufficiency, inorder to in aintain motivation for hard workand its joyu,s fruits. Maintenance of the poorwas at a level not to encourage laziness orshiftlessness. The functioning and stabilityof the work system had to be sustained andthe stewards of the poor acted accordingly inorder to sustain their dominant position insociety and to be guaranteed divine grace.

Tilgher has noted that since Calvin'sday work has not completely lost its dignity,but its relationship with religion has lessen-ed. Having taken on an importance of itsown, work "stands today the watchword ofnations, the creed of the one really vital,sincerely felt religion of the age. Worktakes on this heavy significance in part be-cause man gains joy in mastering the ex-ternal world and feeling his personality tri-umphant. On the other hand, work puts manin a state of dependence on the external world."The devine madness of labor seems an un-bearable chain, binding him to things outsidehis own nature, locking his soul into a narrow

prison where its energies are Impoverishedand weakened.

Adam Smith and Karl Marx grasped anessential point in their recognition of the"productivity" of labor. Both thinkers werein accord with public opinion when they re-garded unproductive labor as perverted andparasitical. It was, in fact, productivitywhich was the reason for the elevation of laborin modern times. 6 Labor's status spectacu-larly rose when Locke discovered it was thesource of property and wealth.? Laborers,once slaves who toiled to provide the vitalnecessities for others, were "freed" to laborand have standing in the community. Later,leveling ensued and progressed to the pointthat now almost all men labor in order to"make a living." All men have been reducedto the common dc,ominator of securing thenecessities of life.8

Today the notions of making a livingand that work must be "useful" require har-monization with Gie condition of the absenceof work and the concomitant problem of lei-sure. A number of interrelated events, situa-tions and conceptualizations occurred overtime to change the nature of work and to giveit a different role in the life of man. The pro-fusion of ideas and bursting enthusiasm em-anating during the Renaissance was concernedwith a view that life was observable, measur-able, and predictable. The replacement oftheology by science and its method for ex-plain.ng man and nature led to a rapid devel-opment of technology and its application toevery sphere of human activity. Man sooncreated mass industrialism, and concomitantcomplex and highly differentiated social sys-tems. Science also led to the substitution ofnatural time by durational time. Instead ofmeasuring or living by the cycles of the sea-sons or sun and lunar systems, man createdhour, minute and second measures and timebecame the principal factor in developingperspectives, policies, structures, and func-tions in relation to all human activities. TheProtestant ethic provided an ethos and ration-ale for the mastery of man over nature andprogress via productivity. These conditions

and themes have resulted in technological de-velopment at such a rapid rate and magnitudethat today's modern societies, especially theUnited States, have problems such as menwith "time on their hands," routinized andboring work, surplus unsIdlivi able-bodiedworkers for high-skill jobs, an increasingincidence of worker displacement because ofa rise in automation of industrial processes,and a shift from work as a central life inter-est to non-work systems. I will now examinemore closely the function of work in the con-temporary period.

CURRENT FUNCTIONS OF WORK

Ralph Linton identifies five functionsconsidered to be found in any situation definedby society as a "job"; these are: income, re-gulating life-activity, identification, associa-tion, and meaningful life-experience. In lightof these functions, Friedmann and Havighurat9examined five occupations: unskilled and semi-skilled steel workers; coalmineis; skilledcraftsmen; sales people; and physicians. Theyfound that all five value work about equally as1) association, 2) a routine which makes thetime pass, and 3) a means to discover self-respect and secure respect or recognitionfrom others. Workers of lower skill andsocioeconomic status are more likely to seework as having no other meaning than earningmoney, while skilled craft and white-collarworkers attach more extrafinancial meaningto work. These self-reported functions illus-trate how the meanings of work arc related tothe social structure.

Another study by Morse and Weissshows that work serves other than economicfunctions for middle- and working-class men,but the nonmonetary functions differ betweenthe two strata. Data from personal interviewswith a national sample of employed men indic-ate work gives tnen a feeling of being tied intothe larger society and of having something todo; fot the majority, work is more than ameans. When asked if they would continueworking even If their financial situation didnot necessitate employment, 80 per cent re-plied affirmatively. The reasons why they

47

would work again illustrate class variations.For the middle class, working means havingsomething interesting to do, having a chanceto contribute and to accomplish things. Theworking class defined working as synonymouswith activity -- the alternative here beingboredom.

Dubin's study of the central life inter-ests of industrial workers indicates that theyhave a sense of attachment to their work andworkplace without a corresponding sense oftotal commitment. Workers developed signi-ficant primary relationships mainly outsidethe work sector, their industrial jobs aremeans to other ends and were not as aliena-tive or depressive as might be commonlysupposed.

The characteristics of industrialwork that are alleged to be disturb-ing to the individual (monotony,repetitiveness, mechanistic char-acter, and over-specialization) arethe very features that make obviousto its participants the nature ofsymbiotic or technological inter-dependence. In short, industrialwork may be functional for thesociety because it sharply etchesfor the individual some awareneso ofthe division of labor and its result-ant interdependence.11

What Dubin suggests is that, for themajority, industrial work world is not acentral life interest, but that industrial em-ployment is marked by a certain Durkheim-ian organic solidarity. Despite the hetero-geneity of the workers' backgrounds and non-work involvements, and despite the lack offormal consensus, mJn have a solid sense ofinterdependency derived from their techno-logical experience.

Other investigators are reaching simi-lar conclusions but for slightly different rea-sons. Factory workers now control the workplace through a combination of union organiza-tion and informal group controls. No longerdo they work a twelve-hour day and leave theplant exhausted. In one sheet and tube mill In

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Gary workers cook their meals on stovesattached to fiery furnaces; take naps on themattresses they bring in; take "breaks" asneeded and control the "bosses" through slow -downs or stoppages of production. Slowdownis a technique "to cut the management down tosize," and "to create kicks and break mono-tony." Work can be undignified but real funi12

The meanings and functions of work varysituationally and individually. Although thestudies reviewed here do not present a totallyconsistent picture, they indicate some generaltrends which must be kept in mind as the stateof vocational education today and the shape ofthe future is considered.

ENTERING THE WORLD OF WORK

An excellent appraisal of the adminis-tration, structure, and orientation of voca-tional education is provided by Kaufman,Schaefer, Lewis, Stevens, and House In TheRole of the Secondary Schools in the Prepara-tion of Youth for Employment." The authorsconcentrated on both the adequacy and image ofvocational education, and their volume presentsan outline of major deficiencies.

Concerning effectiveness, it was foundthat there is slight relationship between theproportion of enrollment in various vocationalprograms and occupational distributions incommunities -- thus the small enrollments havelittle impact on tremendous manpower needs; thepercentage of graduates who find jobs directlyrelated to their training is tes- than one-third;vocational students are less likely than otherstudents to discuss either course choices oroccupational plans with a guidance counselor;and the ratio of students to counselors, 440 toone, is unrealistic plus the fact that counselorstend to spend most of their time with college-bound students.

Also, it was discovered that culturalsterootries tend to restrict programs availableto girls as well as the girls' self-concepts;the only vocational program open to girls whichcan accommodate a large number is office-oriented. Girls do not protest their limitedchoice range since they have learned that girlsshould not prepare for "important" jobs because

their ultimate goal is marriage wherein E.nylengthy training would be wasted. This stereo-type is not in consonance with the reality ofthe labor needs of the market place, changingvalues regarding women in gainful employmentoutside the home or career opportunities andinvestment for women.

Thus, the schools' output of graduateslags behind manpower needs, while the stu-dents who are enrolled in programs receiveinadequate gUidance due to the shortage ofcounselors, Moreover, an even more crucialdeficiency is the fact that training is often un-suited both to the reality of the employmentmarket and the potentialities of individualtrainees.

Vitually connected to these problemis the question of image. The survey of sec-ondary school vocational training showed thatteachers in comprehensive high schools ratherthan vocational schools rate vocational train-ing low and are skeptical of its effectiveness;vocational students are presumed to have In-ferior abilities; potential employers are pes-simistic of the programs; and union officialsreluctant to give credit for such training.Employers and union officials are not ade-quately represented on advisory committees --thus resulting in under-utilization of communi-ty resources. With these problems in view,the authors made recommendations aimed atimproving both the effectiveness of programsand the image of vocational education, nowconsidered by many as a "dumping ground"for those of inferior abilities.

Among the recommendations relatedto vocational offerings and the needs of bothstudents and community, the researchersstated that secondary education should be re-oriented to serve also students who expect toobtain employment immediately after gradua-tion but do not wish to comit themselves to atraditional vocational program; in this waystudents could become familiar with a core ofskills comprising occupational clusters and,thus, be more likely to find jobs congruentwith the needs of specific communities. Also,the physical setting, freedom of movements,individualized instruction, and stress on phy-sical rather than verbal skills characterizing

vocational prograns appear to hold potential inmotivating students who lack interest or abilityto benefit from more traditional offerings; stu-dents :-om disadvantaged backgrounds who lackverbal facility could profit from new and broad-er programs designed with the goal of occupa-tional familiarization rather than skill attain-ment. After initial emphasis on guidance,movement into specific training programs couldbe more effectively encouraged. Additionalimperatives are that a wider range of occupa-tional preparation should be offered to femalestudents; reorientation of programs must ad-vance beyond the traditional organization limit-ed to agricultural, trade, and industrial empha-sis; and educators must update teaching methodsin line with recert developments, till now large-ly ignored, in curriculum construction, schedul-ing procedures, and grouping patterns whichrecognize individual differences.

In the administrative realm, the authorsurged formal attention to public relations andchanging needs of the community by assigningstaff specifically to such tasks. Teachers shouldbe trained to understand more fully the conditionsunder which students learn, rather than merelythe techniques of teaching. Advisory committeesshould be structured in such a way as to promotethe significant participation of business, indus-trial, governmental, and labor representatives.

The above discussion highlights but a fewpoints of the Kaufman study on the role of sec-ondary schools in preparing youth for employ-ment. Mile grave inadequacies of vocationalprograms are apparent, specific schemes forImprovement are also in view. The impact ofany proposed change will depend heavily upon thecommunication process. Allmon's behavioralview of education is paracularly relevant here.Innovators must be explicit and honest aboutgoals, rather than grandiloquent or self-deluding,and must identify the milieu forces Involved inthe developmental process.14 Oobboney urgedsystematic efforts to define problems and to"come to grips with the value crisis posed bypoverty and unemployment." Furthermore, thelink between practitioners and theorists, betweenadopters of change and innovators must bestrengthened.15

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Some educators would prefer to elimin-ate vocational offerings entirely; these individ-uals stress that a basic education is, in thelong run, more valuable to youth than a speci-fic one. Undoubtedly, the debate over voca-tional versus general education has served toretard the progress of vocational. It is not thepurpose of this paper to indulge at length inthis dialogue. Briefly, the perspective employ-ed hero is that vocational education is the viableavailable path for large numbers of people.

IMPERATIVES FOR ACTION AND RESEARCH

Today the labor market is quite complex,and certain minimum skills are essential forthose seeking Jobs. Rapid technological changeis diminishing the need for unskilled workers,while the bulk of employment rise is in occupa-tiona which demand certain educational pre-requisites.16 Furthermo'.e, these prerequi-sities are related not only to the need for higherskilled personnel, but also to the phenomenonof "credentialing. " Berg has noted that theavailability of educated people in the labor mar-ket has prompted employers to hire those with"higher-than-needed" educational attainments.While this pattern is sometimes Justified withthe assertion that the "over-educated" areneeded for promotion purposes, the fact re-mains that salaries are determined at time ofJob entry on the basis of education rather thanproductivity. "

This pattern is also observed by S. M.Miller, who finds that ability and performanceweigh less on the hiring scales than documents"proving" educational accomplishments. Forthe underprivileged, education has becomeless a path of upward mobility and more ameans of exclusion. Needed now are newcredentials, more ways of acquiring creden-tios, greater flexibility, and some restruc-turing of jobs. While several poverty pro-grams and the Job Corps have made some head-way In demonstrating work preparation schemesalternative to academic ones, the gates to em-ployment are still guarded tightly. As Millerinsists, for many, credentials remain "walls,"not "doors. "18

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Among the groups particularly affectedby these developments are youth and adults,out-of-school youths, adults at work or un-employed and the mentally and physically handi-capped in current vocational rehabilitation pro-grams. Older persons, part of the "hard-core"unemployed, face especially difficult hurdlessuch as discrinination. Examination of man-power training programs shows that few menrespond to conventional publicity; recruitmentinto the programs is usually best facilitatedthrough personal contacts -- such as in barber-shops, clubs, and churches. Often the trainees'personal problems perpetuate their joblessness.Many men are not emotionally free to learn,since they are harried by family and financialproblems. Fitting the man to the job, a match-ing process, involves the needs and concerns ofprimary groups such as the family. Counseling,it appears, is essential in order to provide prac-tical guidance and to support morale. But coun-seling by itself is insufficient, the hard-core un-employed usually need general, as well as voca-tional education and access to economic re-sources in order to develop and bolster skillsin the presentation of self, literacy, language,hygiene, and human relations."

Obviously, these needs are also apparentamong unemployed youth, though the factor oftime renders their deprivation somewhat lesssevere. For example, a remedial readingcourse may be taken with far less awkwardnessby a person of school age than by an adult longpast the "educational" stage of his life who mayalso be burdened with the responsibility offamily support. Also a young person may bekept in school as a mans of keeping him outof the labor market. In doing this he meetscommunity expectations and does not take ona deviant role, the unemployed worker. None-theless, it is apparent that all age groupsgenerally share certain basic needs -- namelytraining, guidance, and financial assistance.Individuals must be made aware of the com-plexities of the labor market, the options avail-ablg to them, and peripheral requisites such aspresenting themselves and literacy, as well astaught the technical skills necessary for workparticipation.

It has been shown that workers employ-ed in higher status occupations attach greaterextrafinancial meaning to their jobs than dothose in less prestigious occupations. Thtconcept of status plays a large part in recvult-ment of students and genera attitudes towardvocational education. For example, the duecollar" jobs to which some trade and industrialprograms lead are considered to some extentas "dirty work." It has been noted that poorpeople forced out of work by technical advancesresent make-work training Rrograms whichkeep them near the bottom. 61 Some critics ofvocational education object to its role in train-ing the urban disadvantaged, primarily Negropopulation; rather than converting alienated crunskilled persons into productive members ofsociety, these programs, claim the critics,only serve to justify the inferior position ofNegroes in terms of their alleged "natural in-feriority." Further, it is stated many pro-blems indigenous to vocational education haveresulted from the "clumping" of poorer studentsinto its programs.22

Again, these problems are related tothe issues of both adequacy and image. Con-cerning the concept of "dirty work, " I havepreviously suggested that service may be thecrucial variable in explaining dirty work.23That is, dirty Ntork done by necessity, becauseof lack of other skills, gives an aura of servil-ity. On the other hand, dirty work because ofh real or perceived service orientation givesan aura of nobility. Usually dirty work isstereotypically allied with low status and non-professional jobs -- the work that someone hasto do since society cannot exist without it,while "clean" work is associated with profes-sionalism, higher-status lobs, and the pre-sumed superiority of the white-collar worker.

However, this dichotomization fails tolake into consideration the variations in workconditions of jobs in both low and high statuspositions. Nonprofessional work can be clean,too. Work .2orxlitions in many modern factor-ies are characterized by sanitized surround-ings, good lighting, and pleasant accouterments

atmospheres comparable to business offices.Yet, the stereotypes persist. One must ask,

then, what kinds of persons are attracted todirt:, work occupations; do persons engaged indirty work occupations exhibit behavior pat-terns within and without the work systembasically different from those i higher statusoccupations? Suggested is a matching processin which personality characteristics, motiva-tions, _self-image, experience, and environ-mental factors are considered in recruitment,training, and maintaining workers in so-calleddirty work occupations.

Another question for study is in takingon dirty work, and in most instances a quiteneeded service which others refuse to do, canan occupation increase its status or power? Myguess is that it does. Stereotypes and imagesdo not die quickly. One strategy is to capital-ize on the vital usefulness notion attached tomost service occupations and to assist occupa-tions in organizing to improve their power,self images, and financial and psychic payoffs.Workers require a stake in the institutionalsystems of society and to be involved in thecompetition for scarce rewards and gains.The reallocation of resources as demonstra-ted in the anti-poverty program is an exampleof one means of reducing inequalities inherentin a stratified class system. Reallocationsfor revamping the image of vocational andservice type occupations involves funding ofprograms not, only for training but for statusenhancement, and imagery of vital need forthe public welfare. The closure for a service,whether it is real or perceived, modifies thesupply -demand ratio, and scarcity meansgrowth in power, rewards, and status forthe occupation.

It must be emphasized that one cannotunderstand the workings of an occupation'sinternal syaem or its inter-occupational re-lationships without considering the larger worksystem of which it is a part. Thus, sociologywhich has devoted considerable attention tobureaucracies and institutional functioning, isa discipline directly involved in research rele-vant to some of the central issues cited here.

A few examples are sufficient toillustrate this last point. A work systemconsists of a large number of occupationalgroups organized into a pattern of interrelated

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roles in which each role holder presumably isaware of the role of others. Theoreticallyeach role holder has a clear idea of what isexpected of him and what he expects of others.Role expectations is used to characterize thisprocess. However, a stable system or roleexpectations within a work system is almostimpossible to attain because of multiple or-ganizational hierarchies, each with a complexrole system. In the hospital work systemthere are administrative, medical and nursinghierarchies which often contend against oneanother for power. Who should do what andwhen and to whom is often obscured in thestruggle for power. Work systems have normsto govern role performance and to demarcateareas of responsibility. Norm conflict is foundin all work systems and generates ambivalenceand ambiguity in behavior of members bothwithin and without the occupation. Thesecharacteristics of work systems suggest ap-proaches for manipulating interaction and formodifying structural elements of a system soas to enhance the position and power of non-professional occupations.

Sociologists working o? the problemsof organizational and irterorganizational anal-ysis claim that most bureaucratic service worksystems such as schools, hospitals, and wel-fare agencies are operated for the benefit ofthe staff rather than for the client. The samecan b I said for profit-type work systems. Anew r eiological specialization is the clientcents. ..d bureaucracy with efforts to developnew types of work systems around the needsof clients. The importance of this develop-ment is that occupational systems which canidentify and collahlrate most effectively withclients in bureaucratic service institutionswill have another means to improve theirwork conditions, status, power and rewards. 24

Unions and occupational and profession-al associations have important roles in improv-ing the status of non-professional occupationsby altering the stereotype image held by thepublic. A fr xittent tactic is for the leadershipto "sell" the service value of the occupationto the populace, while providing identification,loyalty, self - control, education, and socializa-tioa for the members. Concurrently,

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associations must combat the opposition ofrelated occupations, equally concerned withcarving out their own positions in the statushierarchy. The major point here is that unionsand bureaucratic organizations are particular-ly potent forces in building and changing or-ientations toward work, as well as affecting thepublic, image.

Reference group theory offers furtherinsight into how groups vary in their assign-ment of status to jobs. It is noted that in theHollingshead-Redlich system25 occupation andeducation are the major components in deter-mining social class. Occupation is consideredto reflect the skill and power of the individualas he functions in society, while education istaken to reflect both knowledge and culturaltaste. This is one attempt to measure socialclass objectively. However, individuals intheir day-to day lives utilize a variety of in-formal "scales" which are developed in largepart through reference groups. How personsrate themselves and others depends on theirown position in the societal hierarchy and therange of vision possible from that position.In onenphase of a study of rehabilitation coun-seling 6 a sample of the national populationwore asked to rate twelve occupationG. Theresults showed differences by respondents'own social class in the occupational rankings.For example, psychiatrist was rated higherby the upper than lower classes, probably in-dicating that the occupation is more visible tothose in the upper strata. They have more con-tact with this professional than do others whomay be influenced by the "head-shrinker"image and debunking of intellectuals. Refer-ence group theory, which recognizes theextreme flexibility of prestige and status,provides a major approach to the "imageproblem" in vocational education. Throughmore precise under3tanding of the dynamicsof group image-making, the strategy of re-cruitment into occupations hampered bypersonnel shortages may be more concretelydesigLed.

THE FAMILY KINSHIP SYSTEM

Another force influencing work orienta-tions and also career selection is the modernurban kinship network. I have previously e-laborated that the family is as much involvedin producing changes in other societal systemsas it is required to adjust to social changesproduced by non-family systems.27 Thus, inthe occupational and educational spheres, thefamily must be viewed as both a dependent andindependent variable.

The kin system is composed of nuclearfamily units highly integrated within a networkwith the associated reletionship of aid andmut.ial assistance that develops along kin linesand over several generations. In interactionwith other institutional systems the familyassumes varied stances; it may act directlyto promote its own self-interests, it may in-tegrate its own needs and demands with thoseof other systems, or it may adapt its behaviorin accordance with other institutional impera-tives. In other words, at times the influenceof the urban family is felt directly by producingspecific changes in the policy, structure, andactivities of other societal systems, such aseconomic, governmental, or educational ones.Under other conditions, influence is less dir-ectional and more reciprocal, blending thenormative requirements of the family-kinshipwith other systems. In still other circum-stances, the family-kinship structure haslittle influence on other systems. What issignificant about this approach is that it dif-fers from the common notion that the familyis subservient to and must constantly respondto the functions and demands of stronger in-stitutions in order to survive.

In view of the common understatementof the family's influence, sociology needs moredefinitive studies on the noneconomic factorsin occupational cl-oice and career mobility and,specifically, how family concerns confound therational decision-making model associated withthe economic marketplace. Such studies wouldmake a distinctive contribution to general theo-ry by elucidating the variations, and theircauses, from the currently held hypotheses

...terxxOte. -

concerned with the "long arm of the job.' Thepredominant belief today is that, in a highlydifferentiated society, economic opportunitiesare not confined to any one geographical area,segment, or class of the society. One movesto the best opportunity and makes a decisionto do so after treating the problem objectivelyand scientifically. In the business and indus-trial worlds, movement is along a career linewhich provides increased payoffs as one climbsa higher rung of the ladder; in the professionsthe individual changes positions because of in-creased opportunities for using his talent andalso, perhaps as a consequence of motivationrooted in an "other" - oriented service tradi-tion rather than a. market place ideology.

One approach to this problem is toclassify the factors which might influence thedecision-making process in occupational choiceand career mobility as follows: 1) financial re-ward, 2) working-place satisfactions, and 3)family concerns. Considering factors of monetary gain, one might compare an individual'scurrent income to that of the new offer anddetermine the amount of increase necessaryto effect a decision to move when the worksituation and family concern factors are con-trolled. In the analysis of the work situation,one evaluates current and potential conditionsof job satisfaction: interpersonal relationships,opportunity to use talents, non-financial re-wards, and security. Family concerns areviewed as both constraining and influencing.Under constraining one considers: 1) thefan Ay's involvement in the extended kin net-work, real or perceived commitment to it,gratifications received, and exchanges andservices performed; 2) the wife's currentcareer status or occupational ambitions, andfriendship patterns; 3) the child's friendships,educational status, health condition, relevanceto the stage of the life cycle; and 4) involvementof the family in the community, social relation-ships, and recreational activities. Positive orstimulating influences in occupational choiceand career mobility are: unsatisfactory kinnetwork relationships; the wife's gain by re-location in terms of job, educational oppor-tunities, improved interpersonal relationships;

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improved opportunities of the children foreducation and social relationships; and the de-sire for new experience. Moreover, the bal-ance between supply and demand for workersin a given occupation may be considered animportant intervening variable in the study ofthe relationship of non-financial factors tocareer choice and mobility -- &II certainly acrucial factor in assessment of vocationaltraining.

There is no doubt that the family, asthe primary socializing agent of the child andlater, throughout other phases of the life cycle,as a continuing source of emotional and fre-quently financial support for its members, hassignificant impact on career choice. Not onlydoes a young person develop a particular pers-pective of what he should be doing, what isexpected of him, and what his specific societalrole entails, but he is also limited by thepractical resources his family can contributetoward the achievement of Ms desired goals.For example, as mentioned by Kaufman andothers, vocational education programs tendto offer limited curricula for girls. They donot object to the narrow possibilities; rather,they have learned through socialization thattheir primary role is destined to be that ofwife and mother. Their own self-concept waslimited, an was, in most cases, monetarybacking for more ambitious goals.

Further, a child of poverty has a farnarrower range of vision of occupationalchoices than has an affluent child. Thus, adisadvantaged youth may have limited aspira-tions not only because of the guidelines givenhim during family socialization, but also because he personally has infrequent exposureto certain "higher" job levels. His view ofthe overall occupational structure is some-what stilted by underexposure.

Leaving aside for the moment poverty-based mutations of the socialization process,several additional comments are in order. Itwas noted earlier that some bureaucratic sys-tems such as schools tend to operate more forthe staff than the client. At least in the home,the child receives some specialized treatment,extreme versions of which have bred the phrase

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"the child-centered society." For schools ingeneral, and vocational educational institutionsin particular, there is a definite advantage tobe gained from placing the child at the centerof the learning process. Minelli and Bentonhave deplored the current fragmentation ofknowledge and the development of learning in-to "nothing more than a process of accumulat-ing a mass of meaningless fragments whichare Riesented in is:dation and are retained atall. Effective learning requires that thepupil be the focal point in the process, andgiven some freedom that he may progress athis own speed; subject matter, too, must betreated in a flexible manner, utilizing a varied,not rigid, use of time. Rather than mere re-gurgitation, students must, as Bowman con-tends, "learn how to learn"; and until schoolshave taught this skill they have not accomplish-ed their job of vocational preparation.23

ENVIRONMENT PLUS

Even when one exposes the child ofpoverty to realistic occupational goals andinduces positive changes in his self conceptand role performance these gains are shortlived unless accompanied by basic modifica-tions in the family's posture, motivationperception, and resources. The most impor-tant finding from research in this area isthat "permanent" individual change in be-havior is almost impossible to obtain unlessthe group, in this instance, the family, isinvolved. The recent administration reor-ganieation in the Department of Health, Edu-cation, and Welfare with the creation of theSocial and Rehabilitation Service is a recogni-tion of this fact. One must treat the physicalor social disability or handicap of the indivi-dual with consideration to its impact upon thenon-disabled and the support or lack of sup-port given by members of primary groups tothe disadvantaged individual.

The lesson for us is to utilize nuclearfamily or kin related members as socializa-tion agents in matters concerning occupationalchoice, training, and career development.This process involves assessment of existingtalents of family members of the nuclear

family or kin group to work with the vocation-al education system in occupational choice,placement, and oareer development.

The social and physical environmentis not, however, the sole determinant of in-dividual development; innate differences mustbe recognized. Each person has specific ge-netic endowments and unique degrees of dex-terity, intellectual potential, and sensitivity.Each family creates its own sub-culture ofnorms, values, and the like; and a bright childwith innate capabilities can be stunted and failto achieve his potential under the influence ofa negative sub-culture. On the other hand, anindividual with lesser abilities within a bounti-ful and nourishing setting has a boundary be-yond which he cannot rise. The point is thateach individual is a particular product of 1)genetic endowments, 2) environment, and 3)unique experience.

Elsewhere, I have documented the on-going ties of children and parents even afterthe children have become adults and left hometo found their own families." However, thestrength of the kin network does vary, the ef-fects of poverty upon the family are unmistak-able. An example is the Negro matriarchalsociety in which the notion that the Negro boybelongs at work, not in school, is reinforcedin part by the fact that educated Negro malesdid not have a consistent employment advant-age over uneducated Negro males. Althoughthis problem is receiving increasing attention,it is still evident that the process of racialdiscrimination tends to categorize job levelsaccording to appropriateness for certain races.Thus, many Negro males withdraw as hus-bands, fathers, and workers -- reflecting theeffect of attitudes and life situations uponmarriage and feelings about illegitimacy. 31

It is a well - supported view that theconditions in the Negro family are of longstanding, result primarily from poverty, andwill be corrected most effectively by improv-ing the economic and social status of Negromen. As Herzog notes, whether one holdsthat the breakdown of the Negro family is thecause of social and economic problems orwhether one believes that low social and eco-nomic status results in the deterioration of the

family, in the long run, what families essen-tially need are good jobs for Negro menjobs with status, potential, and stability.

The issue of potential is closely linkedwith certain key questions about vocationaltraining. Some critics of the program urgethat better qualified Negroes be advised not totake vocational education programs becausethe programs carry connotations of "dumpingground" and "inferiority"; these critics feelthat a vocational training background would bea detriment rather than a boost to job-seekingNegroes. A related attack is that vocationaltrainees are doomed to a static position in theoccupational hierarchy. Even though they mayfind jobs more substantial than those obtain-able before training, individuals still lack theskills derived only from more general educa-tion which are essential for higher level em-ployment. While this view indeed containsmuch fact, it still omits several pertinentconsiderations, namely, "second" and "neu "careers. One possible way of broadening thepotential of vocational education, as alreadycited, is to update the curricula in line withcommunity needs. In this context, we sug-gest that the concept of "new careers" mightbe quite fruitfully utilized.

NEW CAREERS

The new careers ;theory proposesthat all human service occupations can bebroken down and reorganized to provide amore efficient product while allowing untrain-ed people to play a productive role in entryservice positions. Poor people would betrained for highly skilled and professionaltasks which need to be done, utilizing thosesocially useful skills and capacities whichmany have acquired by having lived in pov-erty. This approach, an especially effec-tive antipoverty strategy, requires a re-organization and redefinition of jobs for theprofessional and nonprofessional. 33 Witbcomprehensive planning, vocational educationmight play a significant role in such reorgan-ization and offer training programs for certainnew positions. Most certainly, vocationalcounselors should keep informed of new careers

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developments in order to pass on such infor-mation to students.

At first glance it may appear that newcareers, with leanings toward professional-ism, might entail more literary and verbalskills than vocational students traditionallypossess. However, it is imperative to notethat tht social sciences and service occupa-tions have recognized that grave communica-tion and value gaps frequently exist betweenworkers arid clients which mar the treatmentprocess. In social work, for example, work-ers engulfed by middle-class values and biases,view lower-class clients as neurotic, difficultor even stupid. The clients, in turn, easilybecome disillusioned with the bureaucratic sys-tem, which they view as irrelevant and unsym-pathetic to their immediate needs. Yet, aworker who comes from a disadvantaged back-ground might understand clients' fears and needsmore readily, explain the "system" more ef-fectively to the client, and contribute fresh in-sights to the treatment. This is but one in-stance of how people, deficient in more formalverbal skills such as grammar or spelling andlacking "higher" education, can with training incertain service-type roles, function with a highdegree of productivity.

S'1COND CAREERS

Of further relevance to vocational educa-tion is the concept of "second careers. "34 Thisconcept refers to those who have trained or work-ed long enough in one occupational area to con-stitute commitment to et career, but who thendrop this first endeavor and inaugurate a secondcareer. Usually, women whose children havegrown; persons whose first job was by natureshort-spanned such as army careerists or sportsparticipants; and individuals who found theirfirst occupation unsatisfying are likely candidatesfor a second career. Further, quite frequentlysuch persons are searching for emotional ratherthan monetary reward; thus, service-orientedoccupations are prime possibilities. What theincreasing phenomenon of second careers meansfor vocational education students is that careerchoice is not irreversible. For those who havemore ambitious goals or who lack clearly

defined goals, but for whom vocational educa-tion is, at the moment, the most viable path,the spread of second careers indicates thatlater entrance into a different field is neitherimpossible nor uncommon. Indeed, the firstwork endeavor may be a pathway into the sec-ond -- through solidifying likes or dislikes,through recognizing potentialities, or throughacquiring skills that are transferable to anarea more consonant with developing interests.This perspective is most congruent with thefact of ongoing technological change and theconsequent need for men to view themselvesin a flexible and dynamic rather than staticlight.

THE FUTURE REALMS OF WORK ANDLEISURE

Thus far, focus has been turned toperspectives on work through history includingcontemporary views on the meaning and func-tion of work, and problems in the vocationaleducation area such as adequacy and image.Also included have been suggestions pertain-ing to the direction and image of vocationaleducation; consideration of the issue of dirtywork, the effects of poverty, the concepts ofnew and second careers, the influence of thefamily kinship system and statement of re-search needs.

One issue rendered conspicuous byits absence in the discussion thus far is thatof alienation. Since Marx used the term"alienated labor, " volumes have been writtenon this topic, and "alienation" now bears avariety of meanings, not always altogetherconsistent. Mainly due to industrialization,Western civilization has a certain set ofcharacteristics which set it apart from otherareas. As Lewis Mumford writes:

The regularization of time, theincrease in mechanical power,the multiplication of goods, thecontraction of time and space,the standardization of perfor-mance and product, the trans-fer of Oda to automata, and theincrease of collective interde-pendence . . . are the chief

characteristics of our machinecivilization.35

In one sense it would appear that vocationaleducation, which essentially prepares men tofit into a mechanical and bureaucratic system,must answer to the attack that by emphasis onpreparation for specific task performance itis preparing individuals for the "alienatedlife, " for roles of cogs in a mechanistic ma-chine.

In view of the wide spectrum of inter-pretations, no doubt many workers are tosome degree alienated, but then so also arehousewives, executives, professors, and otherprofessionals. The problems of meaningful-ness, action versus manipulation. and estrange-ment from self, others and nature -- are notconfined to the realms of economics and labor.Although these problems are too broad for fullconsideration here, they do have bearing onplanning for the future.

Earlier discussion focused on somemeanings and functions work does have; it wasseen that for many working was preferable tonot- working, despite financial necessity. Thisvalue of work per se, however, is not universal-ly shared. But regardless of what other satis-factions and dissatisfactions are, involved, voca-tional education serves an important function inpreparing men for the very fundamental task ofmaking a living. Fulfilment of the basic ne-cessities of existence -- food, clothing, andshelter, is the first priority. In this society,there are tangental needs for purposeful in-volvement, status and prestige, which are boundetit occupation, and which must be consideredas second priorities.

In a society as abundant as ours, thereare means to provide all citizens with theprimary necessities; the failure to accomplishthis is related, in part, to the complexity ofthe system, the endless redtape of bureau-cracy, and the lingering Puritanical ideologythat men must work in order to eat -- even inface of the fact that rapid technological changesmake working dependent on skills many mencannot afford to acquire.

Moreover, as some have alreadyrealized, planning for the future must

encompass the realm of leisure36 as well aswork. The problem then arises that men al-ienated in work -- to the extent they are also"estranged from life" -- are further alienatedin leisure. Furthermore, as Margaret Meadcommented, society dock; not really "approve"of leisqe, work still being the dominantethos. Society tends to segment peopleaccording to whether or not they earn their ownliving, i.e. , groups such as children, the aged,or the unemployed are not considered full eiti-zerm. Further, distinctions such as "sub" -professional indicate a lesser involvement inthe affairs of the nation. These are particular-ly unfortunate and inappropriate stereotypes inlight of the fact that increasingly more and morepersons will Lave shorter work weeks, morefree and leisuee time at their disposal. Thepicture darkens as one recalls, for one ex-ample, the Morse and Weiss study of the func-tion and meaning of work in which it was shownthat:

The typical employed man doesnot at present have alternativeways of directing his energy andinternal resources and does notat present have alternative waysof gaining a sense of relationshipto this society which are sufficient-ly importt to take the place ofworking.

Undoubtedly, as writers on alienationstress, the absence of such alternatives isdue in part to what work has become as aconsequence of industrialization, bureau-oratinization, and automation. Man, onceattuned to routine and the machine, hasdifficulty filling up unstructured time withanything other than more routine, more"busy" processes, or passive excitationsinduced by the mechanical media. Moreover,man as consumer functions under the ideologythat he works in order to gain money withwhich he can then buy status and in a sensemeaning itself. Arendt warns that the modernage, which began with such a promising out-burst of activity, "may end in the deadliest,

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most sterile passivity history has everknown. "39

To conclude, in order to deal with thefuture we must have firm grasp of the originsand present meanings and functions of work.In a sense we must have a foothold in two dif-ferent worlds. Some consider work today tobe alienative and manipulative in content; yet,it is also the criterion by which man's degreeof participation in society is defined and mea-sured. The world of the future, however,promises less work and more leisure, and thepresent patterns of thinking and acting are notattuned to such change.

Vocational education is thus caught be-tween these two worlds. In helping men toprepare for work and participation in society,it serves a most needed function; and for manyit presents, despite its drawbacks, a channelout of poverty. Yet, to maximize its potentialcertain changes are imperative, for example,curricula must be brought up-to-date with theadvance of technology and manpower demands.Also, providing familiarization with clustersof job skills rather than specific job tasks --too easily out-dated -- appears the best course.The concept of new careers, which, in suggest-ing a reorganization and revitalization of theservice occupations including the active parti-cipation of the disadvantaged, is a promisinganti-poverty strategy; and the second careerphenomenon which indicates that more andmore persons are leaving a first occupation toprepare for and enter another, are both rele-vant to the tasks at hand. A quite usefulstrategy might be for vocational education toplug its own energies into the new careersprogram -- not only to involve many individualsin jobs where skills gained-in-poverty might beput to rewarding use but also to aid in alleviat-ing the tremendous manpower shortages nowplaguing the service professions. Further,more investigation of the concept of "dirtywork" needs to be undertaken to determinewhether the public image of some occupationsmight be uplifted through stress on performinga necessary service for society, versus per-forming a "dirty" task because of the lack ofother skills. How "dirty work" occupations

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may use their deviant posture in wrestingpower and privilege from the "clean hands"occupations is another possibility certainlya researchable problem. The influence of thefamily kinship system upon the work realm,and career choice in particular, is an areademanding further analysis; the family and itsmember units of the kinship system exertgreater force than has generally been recog-nized, and attention to this institution canyield fresh insights.

For the world of increased leisure,vocational education, as it now stands, ap-pears ill-equipped as a relevant preparatorysource. It may be that, as some authors con-tend, meaningful use of leisure necessitatesa particular skill. Such skill is more likelypossessed by a man who feels in control of

his own world, than a man manipulated by it.Although it is difficult to confront both theproblem of full employment for all and theproblem of full participation for all, such isthe contemporary challenge. Our primarytask is to provide unemployed youth andadults who want and need to work with train-ing and jobs; poverty and unemployment isa destructive cycle, for both the poor andsociety. But at the same time we must be-gin to sharply scrutinize our own values andattitudes towards work and citizenship. Wemust labor to find a way to recognize theinherent dignity of all men, to make ourworld and its facets of work and leisureamenable to the full participation of everyman, to recognize each man's task as aworthy contribution to the whole.

FOOTNOTES

1Adrian° Tilgher, 'Work Through the Ages, " in Man, Work, and Society, edited bySigmund Nosow and William H. Form, New York: Basic Books, 1962, p. 11.

2Hannah Arendt, The Human Conditios, Garden City, New York: Doubleday Anchor Books,1958, pp. 15-16.

Tilgher, op. cit., pp. 12-13.4 Ibid., p. 20.5 Ibid., p. 24.6 Arendt, 221 cit., p. 76.7 Ibid., p. 88.8 Ibid., p. 101.9 E. A. Friedman and R. J. Havighurst, "Work and Retirement, " in Nosow and Form;

op. cit., pp. 41-55.10 Nancy Morse and R. S. Weiss, "The Function and Meaning of Work and the Job, " in

Nosow and Form, op. pit., pp. 29-34.11 Robert Dubin, "Industrial Workers' Worlds: A Study of the 'Central Life Intereats,1"

Social Problems, Vol. 3, No. 3 (January, 1956), p. 139.12 Warner Bloomberg, Jr., "Gary's Industrial Workers as Full Citizens," Commentary,

18 (July, 1954), p. 203.13 Jacob J. Kaufman, Carl J. Schaefer, Morgan V. Lewis, David W. Stevens, and Elaine

W. House, The Role of the Secondary Schools in the Preparation of Youth for Employment, ThePennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.: Institute for Research on Human Resources,1967.

14 James W. Altman, "A Behavioral View of Vocational-Technical Education, "paper pre-pared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education, Symposium onVocational-Technical Education: Prospectu9 for Change, Boston, November, 1967.

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15 Richard A. Gibboney, "The Sor;ial Context and Vocational Education -- Congruence orDivergence?" paper prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Advisory Council on Educa-tion, Symposium on Vocational-Technical Education: Prospectus for Change, Boston, November,1967.

16 Sar A. Levitan, Vocational Education and Federal Policy, Kalamazoo, Michigan: TheW. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1963.

17 War Berg, "Manpower Analysis and Vocational Education; Problems and Perspectives, "paper prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education, Symposiumon Vocational-Technical Education: Prospectus for Change, Boston, November, 1967.

18 S. M. Miller, "Comment: The Credential Society, " Trans-action, Vol. 5 No 2 (Dec. ,

1967) p. 2.19 "Training the Hard-Core Unemployed: A Demonstration Project at Virginia State College,

Norfolk Division," Cooperative Research Monograph No. 13, U. S. Department of Health, Educa-tion, and Welfare, Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1964.

20 But, just how to keep such a young person in school, how to hold him until the essentialcredential is attained, is another problem. As Berg noted, there is need for more attention toactual program content, to curricula which have "holding" power. Berg, op. cit. And beyond thisspecific problem, lies a deeper root issue to be faced -- the question raised by Bowman as to whatare the fundamental reasons for desiring to prevent drop-outs; this essentially entails fartherclarification of social ends. Mary Jean Bowman, "Decisions for Vocational Education: An Eco-nomist's View, " paper prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Advisory Council on Edu-cation, Symposium on Vocational-Technical Education: Prospectus for Change, Boston, November,1937.

21 Robert Pruger and Harry Specht, "Working with Organizations to Develop 'New Careers'Programs, " Walnut Creek, California: Contra Costa Council of Community Services , 1966.

22 Kaufman, et. al. , 22. cit.23 Marvin B. Sussman, "Occupational Sociology and Rehabilitation, " in Sociology and Re-

habilitation, edited by Marvin B. Sussman, Washington, D. C.; American Sociological Association,1965, pp. 179-222.

24 M. Lefton and W. R. Rosengren, "Organizations and Clients: Lateral and LongitudinalDimensions, " American Sociological Review, 31 December, 1966, pp. 802-810; this paper containsapproximately 50 references on this problem.

25 See August B. Hollingshead, Two Factor Index of Social Position, New Haven, Conn.:iimeographed, 1957.

26 Professions Project, Working Memorandum No. 13, Cleveland, Ohio: Case WesternReserve University, unpublished, 1967.

27 See, for example, Marvin B. Sussman, "A View of Needed Family Research in 1967, "a document prepared for the Russell Sage Foundation, March, 1967.

28 Ernest L. Minelli and Thomas M. Benton, "But Readjust We Must -- A Paper Directedat Change in Teacher Education," prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts AdvisoryCouncil on Education, Symposium on Vocational-Technical Education: Prospectus for Change,Boston, November, 1967.

29 Bowman, op, cit.30 Marvin B. Sussman, "Relationships of Adult Children with their Parents in the United

States, " in Family, Intergenerational Relationships and Social Structure, ed. by Ethel Shanas andGordon Streib, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965, pp. 261-268; "Parental Aid toMarried Children: Implications for Family Functioning, " with Lee G. Burchinal, Marriage andFamily Living (November, 1962), pp. 320-332; and "Activity Patterns of Post-Parental Couplesand Their Relationship to Family Continuity, " Marriage and Family Living (November, 1955) pp.338-341.

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31 Mark Battle, "The Negro Matriarchy, " The American Child, Vol. 47, No. 3, (May,1965), pp. 8-10.

32 ElizabrAh Herzog, "Is there a 'Breakdown' of the Negro Family?" Social Work(January, 1966).

33 Frank Riessman, "The New Careers Concept, " American Child, Vol. 49, No. 1(Winter, 1967), pp. 2-8.

31 For comprehensive discussion of this concept, see Marie R. Haug and Marvin B.Sussman, "The Second Career-Variant of a Sociological Concept, " Journal of Gerontology,Vol. 22k No. 4, Part 1 (October, 1937), pp. 439-444.

;35 Lewis Mumford, "The Mechanical Routine, " in Man Alone, ed. by Eric and MaryJosephson, New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc. , 1962, p. 120.

36 A quite penetrating discussion of work and leisure is presented by Sebastian de Grazia,Of Time L Work and Leisure, New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1962.

Ji Margaret Mead, "The Changing Cultural Patterns of Work and Leisure, " one reportin a series of Seminars on Manpower Policy and Program, Washington, I). C.: U. S. Departmentof LabJr Manpower Administration, 1967.

36 Morse and Weiss, op. Cit. , p. 30.99 Arendt, op. cit. , p. 295.

Neal Gross

REACTION

One of the basic purposes of this conference is to explore the utility of the perspectives andresearch findings of the social sciences for the difficult and complex task of designing and imple-menting plans for the improvement of vocational and technical education in Massachusetts. Pro-fessor Sussman's provocative paper presents a number of sociological ideas and research findingsthat should be extremely useful in deliberations about ;he future of vocational-technical educationin the Commonwialth.

Of special value, in my judgment, arehis observations about the influence of thefamily on occupational decisions, the rolevocational education could play in developing,and offering training for, "new positions" inour sod l'y, and the need to make studentsaware c.f alternatives available to them atboth early and later stages of their occupation-al careers. His paper offers a number ofconcrete suggestions that appear to be worthyof serious consideration in attempting to fash-ion vocational educational programs that willprovide students with a more realistic under-standing of the complex world of work to whichthey will be exposed and give them the jobskills that they will need to cope effectivelywith I'. I am quite certain that ProfessorSussman would agree that efforts to imple-ment the kinds of suggestions he has pro-posed need to be subjected to rigorous evalua-tion in r*.ew of the slight payoff that has re-sulted from so many programs instituted inrecent years designed to solve major educa-tional and social problems in o-'r society.Implicit in Professor Sussman's paper Is thecentral perspective of the sociologist when heexamines school systems. Since I believethis general orientation of the sociologist is

the most valuable contribution he can offer toeducational planners, 1 wish to make it ex-plicit. I then propose to consider its possibleimplications for re-orienting our thinking a-bout the scope and nature of vocational educa-tion in our schools.

In sociological perspective, schoolsystems are sub-systems of a society de-signod to fulfill certain of its basic needs.That is, the sociologist does not view schoolsas operating in a vacuum but rather as themajor formal agency of socialization of asociety, one in which it invests heavily to ful-fill Its needs. The school's "output" con-stitutes '1n-puts" for the society.

I believe that such an orientation toschools Is of great value to educational plann-ers and decision makers in the United Statesbecause .t forces them to ask a fundamentalquestion that they too frequently ignore. It is(his; Is the mission of the school today and inthe coming decades the same as it was in the1920's or the 1940's? I think the answer isclearly "no." in the past the essential taskour society assigned to the schools was tosort and allocate students on the basis of aset of arbitrary academic criteria.

But today, public education has been

$ Dr. Gross is Professor of Education and Sociology, Harvard University.

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called upon to play a new, vital, and strategicrole: to maximize the human resources of ournation. The theme for this new challenge was,in my judgment, most eloquently laid down in1963 by the late President Kennedy in hismessage to the 88th Congress:

For the nation, increasing thequality and availability of educa-tion is vital to both our nationalsecurity and our democratic well-being. A free nation can rise nohigher than the standard of excell-ence set in ita schools and colleges,Ignorance and illiteracy, unskilledworkers and school dropouts --these and other failures of oureducational system breed failuresin our social and economic system:delinquency, unemployment, chronicdependence, a waste of human re-sources, a lose of productivepower and purchasing power andan increase in tax-supported bene-fits . . . Failure to improve edu-cational performance is thus notonly poor social policy, it is pooreconomics.

Education is no longer thought of asbasically a mechanism for sorting out theacademically weak from those who areacademically strong -- regardless of thehandicais students bring to the academicrace. It is no longer viewed as an institutionlargely isolated from other major institutior 3of our society. it no longer serves as a de-vice to preserve the status quo and the long-standing inequities and deprivations to whichwe have subjected so many of our citizens.

The schools are being asked to serveas a dynamic instrument of social change;they are being asked to play a vital role ingiving substance to the words in the preambleof cur Constitution and assuring tht.t thelargesse and aburlance of our nation it dis-tributed to its citizens in a more equitablemanner. Yet only a small number of schoolboards, school executives, and teachers inthe Commonwealth, in my judgment, have

accepted this new role for the schools.In this technological and complicated

age, and in a society whose conscience hasbeen sorely pricked by the way we have ignor-ed our disadvantaged citizens, our nationalleadership has been forced to look at the rawand dirty facts in our cities and our ruralghettoes and has finally become aware of anelementary sociological fact: there arc corn-p!icated linkages and threads among our majorsocial institutions. The family, the schools,and the economic and social fabric are notisolated phenomena but are interrelatedphenomena. We arc finally beginning to takeseriously that socio-economic forces arenation-wide in scope and are not 'restricted tolocal communities or the boundaries of states.We have finally recognized the following politi-cal, economic, and social realities: that localcommunities and states vary in their willing-ness, effort, and financial ability to cope withtheir economic and social problems; that moststate legislatures have been unable or unwillingto deal with critical problems of cities; thatour nation is characterized by constant andhuge movements of population; that the problemsof cities and our citizens are influenced by manysocial forces over which they have little directcontrol; and that our affluent society has sweptunder the carpet for too tong one of its mostcritical social problems -- its wastage of hu-man resources. And the schools are now be-ing asked to make a systematic and sustainedeffort to do their part in solving it -- a lion'sshare of the job.

What is the implication of this socio-logical perspective about the linkage betweenthe schools and their society for those respon-sible for educational planning in the area ofvocational education? I believe it implies thatvocational education needs to be perceived PSpat and parcel of the larger problem of maxi-inizinig our human resources. Instead of focus-ing on how vocational courses can be improved,educational planners may need to focus on themore fundamental question: What steps needto be taken to maximize tile productivity ofschools as people-processing organizations?What needs to be done to maximize their hu-man resource e. at for the welfare of our

society and for the students, themselves?A sociological posturo to vocational

education raises the following kinds of basicissues:

1. Is not education for vocation a pro-blem that besets all students -- not simplythose who will riatgoogsllege?

2. if a basic goal of the school lu tomaximize human resources, then should wenot shift our thinking from how to improveexisting structural arrangements in theschools to what are the basic tasks schoolsneed to perform in order to maximize thepotentialities of their students and what or-ganizational and structural arrangements, in-cluding entirely new ones, offer greatestpromise of accomplishing them, Attentionneeds to be directed to the new mission of theschools and to creative ways to achieve them-- not to existing programs and how to im-prove them. The concept of organizational

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hemay be useful here.3. Should not educational planners

attempt to dislodge the present conceptions ofvocational education held by superintendents,school boards, and the education professiongenerally -- and substitute for it a new con-cept -- education for students who will occupymany roles, one of the most important ofwhich will he their vocations?

4. To get across this expanded andrealistic conception of education for occupa-tions is, in my judgment, the priority task ineducational planning for vocational education.When this is done, We groundwork will belaid to think rationally and meaningfully aboutthe linkageo between educational arrangementsand processes and the vocational and otherneeds of our students and their society. Onlythen will we be able to lay to rest the myththat there is a neat and arbitrary dividingline between vocational and other types ofeducation.

ECONOMICS

101110101111....., - alov-....0.Io Mt WI "."4 MAMA 'XV 9.*11,11. Ere

Mary Jean Bowman

DECISIONS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: AN ECONOMIST'S VIEW

THE KINDS OF THINGS ECONOMISTS HAVE TO SAY

A devoted public servant who was sincerely concerned with improvement in the ti.aining andopportunities provided for American youth, and especially for those who will not go beyond highschool graduation or, at OK; most, Junior college, said recently to one of my colleagues: "Don'tworry about what it costs; just tell us what to do and we'll do it." The reply ran in this vein: "Ailright, let% provide every school with a staff of creative teaching geniuses deeply committed totheir work and to children and youth, let's give these teachers unli.aitqd funds for classroom,library, lab and workshop equipment, and let's complement alt this with a large supporting castof health personnel, home visitors, big brothers and sisters, and psychiatrists." Such a utopianprogram should certainly have some startling effects -- though a sociologist night well point outthat the effects even with all of this would be disappointing unless wo simultaneously waved a wandover our cities to remake them -- and heaven knows what else. Moreover, my economist friendmight well have gone on to point out that even when we have "taken care of" both school and home,we have the question of %fist should be done about the labor market. However, he had said quiteenough to make his point - there are resource limitations that have to be faced up to. Note alsothat in his utopia he evaded curriculum questions, and in general, so fir as internal educationaldecisions are concerned, he passed the buck to the teaching geniuses and their supporting casts.Economists are not experts with respect to internal educations.' decisions -- far from it. Whet,then, do they have to say concerning "vocational preparation

First of all, and most fundamentally,economics is the science of decision-making.The economist begins with a way of thinkingthat focusses upon the processes of decidingamong alternatives. This is an analyticalmethod or set of methods that is quite inde-pendent of the substantive facts and issues.In the presett context, we can sum up thatmethod as having two main variants: §enefitigonanalysis and analysts of cost-effective -e i. The former apVIes when the benefits

are rneasureable in units that can be comparedwith the costs. The second starts with de-lineation of certain 'aenefits, measureable ornot, and specifies a way of determining themost effic;ent combinations of resource in-puts and processes for realisation of thosebenefits. I shall mike formal or informaluse of these two analytical approaches re-peatedly In the pages that follow.

Secondly, the economist has certainkinds of pertineat substantive information

*Dr. Bowman is Professor of Economics, 'Departments of Economics and Education,University of Chicago.

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that come from the particular empirical pro-blems to which he has directed attention. Hemay have looked especially, for example, intothe components of schooling costs, how largethey aro, and who pays them in what ways. ifhe is interested in the "economics of educa-'ion, " he will presumably have looked into.arnings differentials associated with differ-

entials in schooling. Economists are increas-ingly exploring questions concerning laborsubstitutabilities and occupational mobility,although the unitiated should be warned thatuntested presuppositions frequently intrudeinto economists' pronouncements in popularpublications on these matters. Economistshave become increasingly concerned also withthe conditions that encourage or discourageexpansion of training within industry. Theycan even come up with a few important andvery specific recovtmendations about school,urricula.

Unfori'inately, however, economistsare all too often asked to give answers of akind that either lie outside of their compet-ence or that would run counter to the facts ofeconomic life -- answers of a kind that aresought only becaise of misconceptions of whatthe economy Is like. More serious, too manyeconomists, seduced by the popular demandfor cook-book replies, try to comply; whenthey are not just poor economists, this in out-right irresponsibility.1 If the economist is tobring his more basic professional expertiseto bear upon the concrete problems with whichan educational decision-maker must deal, hemust work,side by side with the latter. Onlythen can he apply to the more detailed decisionsthe basic expertise that is at the core of hisdiscipline -- his knowledge of the complexinterrelationships that eharacterite an econom-ic system (for better or worse), and hisanalytical apparatus for arriving at decisionsamong alternatives.

Analytical decision-making has severalprerequisites. 1) Ends or goals must be clear-ly specified, and where the fuller realizationof one goal conflicts with another prioritiesmust be stipulated: how much is a givenaddition to one sort of benefit worth in terms

of what we would be willing to sacrifice ofanother? The economist can contribute to theassessment of how far some public or cocietalgoals do in fact conflict with others, but hedoes not set the priorities; that Is the preroga-tive of his clients, be they administrators,legislators, or the general public.2 2) Re-source availabilities and the degrees of elas-ticity or flexibility in those availabilities mustbe assessed as far as possible. 3) The ef-fects of different combinations of resource"inputs" on results must be examined. Theresults do not have to have a price tag, by theway; they could be increments in capabilitiesor tested "achievements." 4) In any pragmat-ic decision-making situation the manoeuver-able variables roast be identified. Puttingthis in a negative form, decisions on policiesand programs are always subject to con-straints that are not inherent In resourcelimitations. Here we come fell circle to com-peting ends again -- whether latent or mani-fest, concealed in Inertia and resistwice tochange or clearly formulated and explicitlyjustified. In practice we never explicitly setout all the constraints, but only those of whichwe are conscious, which often means thosethat are in some degree open to question.More such questioning, or challenge if youwill, would widen the range of ay.dlable alter-natives and open the door to more creativeand innovative decision-making. This is whythe economist who makes too great an effortto be a "political realist" may do himself andsociety a serious disservice. Ensuring thatthe economist would not impose his ownassumptions about political constraints wasundoubtedly what lay behind the plea quoted atthe beginning of this paper: "Don't worryabout what it costs; just tell us what to do andwe'll do it."

Evidently, no decision-maker can takeall effects of a given choice into account, letalone all possible alternatives. Even at thebroader policy - making levels, decisions willand must be made on the basis of a limitednumber of considerations. The scope ofalternatives examined in arriving at morespecific decisions for the implementations of

policies aro then in turn circumscribed bythe policy framework, though they may alsoexercise a feed-back effect on the policypositions. In the pages that follow I shall beweaving back and forth between tho broaderpolicy and the program decision levels. How-ever, this is no place in which to elaborateupon the general functioning of an economy.3

Discussion of the economist's potentialcontribution to decisions about vocational edu-cation is organized around the followingtopics:

1. Monetary benefit/cost assessmentsof vocational schooling (pages 6 -13

2. The reduction of drop-out ratesviewed as end or as means (pages 13.10)

3. Human resource production func-tions and human resource formation atsclool or at work (pages 12-24)

9. The manpower forecaster anddecisions for votntional education (page 24)These discussions are followed by brief con-cluding remarks. Cost/benefit analyses ofMDTA and reisited programs nre not discuss-ed, though there have been a number of in-teresting and fruitful attempts at such assess-ment.4 I Justify this omission not only be-cause of limitations on the des' reable lengthof this paper, but also because I do not regardthese activities as tenable substitutes forvocational training in the regular secondaryschool programs. On the other hand, ques-tions as to what should be done in schools be-fore entry into the labor force, and what 'sbest done later on or in close associationwith the Job are among the key issues for apolicy-maker who is concerned with vocationaltraining at the secondary and Junior collegelevels. °

MONETARY DENEFIT/COST ASSESSMENTSOF VOCATIONAL S'71100LINO

Neither economic problems nor thernetlxxis of economic analysis are confined toassessments in money terms, despite the pro-pensities of non-economists to identify "eco-nomic" with "monetary," and the prevalenceof money measures in much if not most

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empirical economic research. Wo could de-Rite the "value added" by a given year inschool by units gained in achievement or even,if that is our purpose, by the distance movedalong a particular attitude scale. We might,and for some purposes should, measure atleast some inputs in time units, possibly putt-ing bigger weights on some kinds of time unitsthan on oth3rs (student time inputs might evenbe weighted more heavily than teacher time!)However, as soon as we try to both add up in-put units and express outputs in units that canbe compared with the input units, the essenceof benefit/cost comparisons, wo need somecommon measure. Money valuations, includ-ing money valuations of student time, servesuch a function.6

Conventional social benefit /cost as-sessments take as the goal maximization ofnational product. The method used by eco-nomists In making such assessments of voca-tional schooling, as of any other investment,har three main parts.

First, total costs of training are esti-mated. These costs include (a) direct moneyoutlays for current expenses and estimates ofcapital costs, and (b) the imputed value ofstudent time, measured by the earnings stu-dents forego in attending school instead ofworking. In social assessments it is assumedthrl these foregone earnings are in turn a goodmeasure of what the student would have pro-duced, and they are thus measures not only ofcosts to an individual but also of what societyforegoes. Student incomes foregone make upwell over half of the total costs of resourcesgoing into schooling for secondary school stu-dents in general.? However, technical- voca-tional schools entail considerably higher dir-ect outlays than do general or commercialschools. With the higher direct costs, totalcosts of technical-vocational schools perpupil-year will be higher, unless we assumethat technical schot youth would earn consid-erably less were they to enter the labor marketthan students in other types of secondary cur-ricula. In fact students in the technical-voca-tional schools are apparently no less able onthe average than other terminal secondary

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school students and it would be fallaeious tosuppose that their foregone earnings arelower.8 Although there can be plenty ofargument over just what cost figure to put onstudent foregone earnings, the magnitude oferror in this estimate is far less than in theavailable estimates of either returns or costsof capital and equipment. Furthermore, theproblem of measuring students foregoneearnings can be evaded altogether if we con-cern ourselves only with the differencesamong costs of various curricula (as vocs-tional-technical, general, and commercialsecondary schooling), provided we are willingto accept the hypothesis that the potentialforegone earnings of students in these variouscurricula are substantially tit( same.

The second part of a social benefit/cost assessment again assumes that earningsmeasure productivity. It requires estimationof the future earnings streams associated withcompletion of, say, a technical-vocationalcourse as against the life earnings streamsof those leaving school at the end of juniorhigh school or, in a direct comparison amongalternatt IC secondary school curricula, asagainst those entering the labor market uponcompletion of commercial or general curricula.The stream of differences between any two ofthese average earnings streams gives us ameasure of the time flow of advantages of onealternative over the other when costs are notyet taken into account. I shall come back tosome of the problems of em,irIcally identify-ing these streams of earnings differentials.For the moment, let us make the optimisticassumption that we have good estimates.

The third step in a conventioral benefit/cost assessment requires a method for com-paring a future flow of earnings with thecumulated costs of the schooling to which it isattributed. We might just add up these annualreturns, regardless of when they occur. How-ever, an income expected In the distant futureIs not worth as much as the same amount ofmoney today. This is not just a matter ofsubjective time preferences; if we had themoney today we could invest it and let theinterest accumulate. One way of turning the

expected extra earnings stream into a figurethat we can compare with its costs is there-fore to discount the successive earningsdifferentials at the rate of interest that couldpresumably be obtained on invested funds be-fore adding them up. We compare this sumof discounted earnings c:ifferencea with thedifferential costs and Fee which is the greater,by how much. Suppose we regard an eightpercent interest rate as a reasonable standardfor discounting. The technical-vocationalschool curriculum will then be "better" thanthe commercial curriculum if the stream ofearnings differentials for technical over com-mercial students discounted at eight percentexceeds the extra coats of the technicalschoolirg. Usually economists use severalalternative discount rates to see how theseaffect the comparison. Using a higher orlower discount rate can reverse our con-clusions; the rate at which the benefits andcosts come out even is then the "internal rateof return" (the rate at which the benefit/costratio is 1). If the internal rate of return ishigh relative to returns on other investments,the extra investment In technical-vocationalschooling will be a good alternative.

In the very limited empirical estimatesbrought together to date this is not the case,however. Though technical school studentsmay earn higher starting wages than thegraduates of general or commercial highschools, it seems that their advantage doesnot compensate for the higher total costs oftheir sel,}_ling except at extremely low inter-est rates. 9

Does this mean that we should do awaywith technical vocational schooling, as thefindings to date would seem to imply? Thereare several teasers why we cannot put anysuch weight on them.

Even if we were to regard a correctbenefit/cost assessment of miscellaneousexisting technical-school programs taken to-gether as st Indent evidence, the studies todale could ra.st meet the test. These pilotstudies break new ground, but the stmplcsare small and findings certainly cannot begeneralized with any sort of assurance. 'Mere

are uncontrolled biases in the social back-ground and ability selectivity of students inmost of them, biases that could distort re-sults in either direction. Still more serious,the earnings data are limited to the first yearor very early years after entry into the labormarket. Where the researcher has taken thethird step outlines above, to fill out his as-sessment by utscounting estimated streams ofearnings differentials, early-year differentialshave been carried forward, by assumption, toa cut-off point at five or at ten years, beyondwhich they are ignored (a tacit assumption thatbeyond that point the two gross earningsstreams have converged so that the differencebetween 'hem is zero). If there were reasonto suppose that earnings of technical-vocation-al graduates would continue to be above thoseof other secondary school graduates through-out or far into their working lives, the cut-offat ten or less years out of school could serious-ly bias results against the vocational-technicalschool unless we were discounting at extreme-ly high interest rates. However, there are anumber of a' priori reasons for believing thatwhen we control for ability the earningrstreams of terminal general aod those of tradeand technical school graduates are in factlikely to corn ergo or even to cross. Suchdirect evident!. as we have supports theseinferencedo0 Youth who enter the labor mar-ket directly from the more academic non-vocational secondary-school curricula receivemore on-the-Job training during their firstyears at work and are paid lower wages dur-ing that period. In the end, however, theyaccumulate more total education and as muchor more earning power. If this Is generallythe situation, it appears that the advantageof the male technical-vocational graduates(as compared with either the general academicor the commercial course graduates) is atemporary one, and the extra costa oftechnical training must .-.a recouped, if at all,over a short time span. Protagonists ofteenical-vocational education cannot findmuch solace in this.

The educator may well challenge theeconomist to gc further, however. A muchmore meaningfnl a-al fruitful application of

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benefit /coat analysis would discriminateamong the diverse trades and "occupationa"for which youth are trained and, more sharp-ly, among curricular variations within andcutting across these specialities. There hasbeen some attempt to compare what happensto those trained as, say, electricians, andthose trained as compositors in particularlocalities. But how far would results differwith particular labor market conditions?Variations in early-year earnings may bepeculiarly sensitive to such conditions. Asyet there has been no attempt to my knowledgeto make benefit/cost assessments of curricu-lum variations: what are the effects, for ex-ample, of more mathematics or draftsman-ship, less training in other shop work? Yetthis is Just the kind of cptestion that might beof greatest intcrest in educational decisions.

Finally, schools have many otherfunctions that I have thus far ignored or thatelude G..r money measures. One of thesefunctions is to f.ct as a sifting agency, whichserves prospective employers by sorting outyouth with greater ability and motivation orwith particular interests, If graduation froma trade course serves mainly as an entryticket to apprenticeship in a restricted trade,we may be over-counting real productivityeffects. But this could cut the other way also,as it will where union atprenticeship con-straints delay receipt of wages matching pro-ductivity for a youth who had trade trainingbefore he left secondary school. So far as Ican see, there is no reason to suppose anyspecial bias for or against estimates of re-turns to technical schooling on this count,despite the fact that those who mention thisfactor seem to swing it into the balance a-gainst the technical curricula. More fre-quently cited as favoring trade and technicalsecondary courses is their presumed ad-vantage in preventing drop-outs; this is worthspecial attention, and I shall come back to itin the next section.

Adding up the situation as of the pre-sent, there have been brave beginnings inbenefit/cost valuations, but that is all. thusfar we have made only limited empiricalapplications of our theoretical arsenal; we

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have used blunt instruments on frail data.But crude as they may be, these pilot effortspoint the way to bigger, better, and morepertinent research endeavors.

THE REDUCTION OF DROP-OUT RATES ASEND OR AS MEANS

Just how far one or another kind ofsecondary school curriculum or other varia-tion in school characteristics or special pro-grams can counter the influences that producehigh drop-out rates among some groups ofyoung people In an era in which a larger andlarger majority are not only completing highschool but even going beyond that level is notat all clear. Furthermore, the answer tothat question is not one that economists areparticularly well qualified to give. What theeconomist can do is to make use of any avail-able evidence on this score to make an eco-nomic assessment of costs and effects.

There are two quite different ways oflooking at the effects of one or another pro-gram or type of secondary school on drop-out rates. We may estimate the effects ofreduced drop- out rates on differential incomestreams, iriroducing these adjustments in abenefit/cost analysis that still takes maximi-sation of national income as the goal. Alter-natively, we may take prevention of drop-outsas an end in itself, End apply cost-effective-ness analysis to alternative ways of accomplish-ing this end.

The only empirical studies I have seenthus far took the first of these points of view.Though they have been very ingenious, em-pirical results remain unclear. One of thesestudies compared technical with other second-ary streams in the schools of a New Englandtown.11 Using characteristics of pupils Inthe various streams and their drop-out ratesas a base, the author predicted the drop-outsto be expected in the technical curriculum andcompared this with the drop-out rates actuallyobserved there. He came out with favorableresults for the technical-vocational schoolin that drop-outs were less than the analysispredicted. Taking these data at face value,

along with the rest of his figures for costs anddifferential income streams, I estirnattyi thatin this particular case the drop-out preventionhad sufficient effect on estimated future ever-age income streams to make the technical-vocational school a paying affair at interestrates in the neighborhood of 6-7 percent.whereas it had been a very bad economic betotherwise. This conclusion rests on extreme-ly shaky grounds, however, even for the parti-cular case. It certainly cannot be generalised,and other estimators have been more pessi-mistic.

Let us suppose for the moment that themost optimistic of these will -u- the -wispestimates, ingeniously woven out of thethinnest gossamer, happen to be correct andeven generaliseable. Ilave we come to theend of the matter in finding that when we adddrop-out prevention effects in estimatingbenefit/cost ratios for technical as againstcommercial or general schooling, the formercan at least claim parity? Clearly this is notthe case. Even if we stay with the nationalincome maximisation goal, we must ask: isthere a more efficient way than this of pre-venting drop-outs? If there la, perhaps weshould stick with general secondary schoolingand put the resources saved from investmentin expensive technical school equipment intothe drop-out prevention program in anotherway? (1 do not auggest that this is in fact thecase. If I knew the answer to "the drop-outproblem" and all that pea along with it, I

would resign as an economist and take on anew job.)

Going a step further, we come to thepoint at which a stand must be taken concern-ing the priorities as between higher nationalincome and fewer drop-outs, for in the pre-sent state of our knowledge one thing iscertain: a program that would have majorimpact, pushing beyond anything that technical-vocational schooling can do, is goingto run into increasingly tougher problcrns.Even the most efficient drop-out preventionprograms will cost more per drop-out pre-vented as they dig further into the hard coreof the poverty syndrome. in the short-run,

at least, this is certainly going to soak upmore of tho society's resources than it willadd to the productivity of those induced to stayin school. Whether drop-out prevention isin fact the point on which we should focus maybo questioned oven if wo regard a war on pov-erty as having priority over further increasesin national income, and oven if we define"poverty" in cultural rather than economicterms. But this is to raise the question,"What in fact is our reason for wishing to pre-vent drop-outs anyway?" and thus to call forfurther clarification of what our social endsreally are. '3

HUMAN RESOURCE PRODUCTION FUNCTIONSAND HUMAN RESOURCE FORMATION ATSCHOOL OR AT WORK

Thus far I have argued that while theeconomist has an analytical tool box thatcould be of value in application to criticaleducators' decision problems with respect tovocational schooling, as yet its empiricalapplications have been crude, and the dataare quite insufficient to hold up the edificesthe; have been built upon them. Nevertheless,it is possible to come down to earth in asimplified formulation of come pragmaticcost-effectiveness questions that are of quitegeneral relevance to specific educationalpolicy dcuisions. I will illustrate by applica-tion to analysis of what is best done inschool what at work. In that context we mustask:

1. lbw widespread is the demand fora particular skill, in how great a range ofjobs can it be applied, and how rapidly is itlikely to obsolesce?

2. What are the characteristics ofhuman learning procesaes and how is learn-ing affected by the setting and conditions inwhich it is sought, or In which training isattempted? Motivations are of criticalimportance here. So is the nature of thehuman raw material, which vafies substantial-ly as among individuals and groups in asociety.

3. What is the extent of foregoneworking time entailed on the part of the

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learner, and what is its value in one settingand with one timing of training and learningversus another?

4. What arc the costs of time pro-vided by instructors, and do instructorsthemselves become obsolescent more rapidlyin one setting as against the other?

5. How io costs of equipment used fortraining compare in one alternative versusanother, and how serious is the problem ofobsolescence of equipment? Hero we are con-cerned with both the intensity of use of ex-pensive eqdpment and the importance (orunimportance) of its obsolescence tot thelearning process.

6. How far does training or learningon-the-job entail an extra cost because ofinterferences with the efficiency of otherworkers? This can be very important inparticular le :antes but henceforth I will takeit as read into the decision process withoutfurther comment.These six questions provide a set of pre-sumptive rules for the division of the humanresource development task between schooland Job loch

The presumption is clearly in favorof on-the-job training spread at Intervalsover a working life when the skills are ofkinds that are learned quickly (once a manstarts from some general basic knowledgeof how to learn) and quickly become obsoles-cent or obsolete. The case against schooltraining will be especially strong when ex-pensive equipment that becomes obsolete isassociated with skill obsolescence. Primafade, under these circumstances there willbe obsolescence in the skills of school in-structors, whereas the foreman or trainerin industry must per force be comparativelyup to date. Notice that the obsolescence thatis relevant here la of a kind that the ildividualhimself cannot counter; it is not the fibsoles-cence of a doctor or a university professorwho tails to keep up with new developmentsin his field.

This brings us to two other majorconsiderations that can favor on-the-job orSob- linked training. These are conditionsthat affect motivations to learn (whatever the

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skill may be) and the need to learn how to fitinto and exercise supervisory roles in com-plex organizations. Tho latter refers pri-marily to social learning for line, not staff,functions (insofar as these can still bo dis-tinguished); there is no need to elaborate theimportance of experience and participant-observation for such learning. Motivationfactors, on the other hand, may be moreimportant as they differ among people thanamong skills. The on-the-job potentials forenhancing motivations to learn may be especial-ly important for many of the drop-out-prone,and thus, significantly, for many to whomMDTA and related programs have been pri-marily directed. Wo might hypothesize alsothat skills thl acquisition of which entailsattitude components of non-traditional andnon-academic kinds would be more readilytaught and learned in a job-linked trainingprogram. However, I am quite aware thatthis argument could easily be turned around,to specify that there should be more exposureit_Lthe school? to kinds of activity that contrib-ute to the development of attitudes conduciveto those kinds of learning -- whether in a'Vocational" or a more general course ofstudy. Obvioue.., as an economist I canonly speculate on tti^se aspects of the natureof human learning and the human raw material.What such speculation suggests to me is amuch closer linkage between vocationalschools and business enterprises as a way ofpulling 'problem youth" into the stream ofboth learning and working. This does notmean that schools should take over frombusiness the train'ng for specialized tanks inlocal firms, however. On the contrary, forsome groups public subsidization of trainingwithin Industry may be both less expensiveand more effective than training inside ofa school." There is also a strong case formore use of "sandwich courses" not only inadult educath,n but earlier. Perhaps therehas beef too much attention to "the drop-outproblem" and too little to the fact that asmore and more young people stay in schoollonger and longer their responsible participa-tion In adult life is Increasingly deferred.

Perhaps, although it occurs later, some ofthe restlessness and frustration evidentamong university students has more in com-mon with the high school drop-out's problemsthan we usually recognize. Economists oftenargue, very tidily, that the -cost efficienttiming of investment in human resource forma-tion is to continue full-time schooling to thetermination of studies rather than to interruptthat schooling: this means both a lonrnr pay-off period and lower foregone incomes thanwhen part of the schooling is deferred. Buteven if we ignore obsolescence, to rest withthese arguments is to neglect one of thecritical questions that a more sophisticatedapplication of economic theories should bringto the fore: what in fact are the human learn-ing production functions, and how do thesediffer with differences in the human rawmaterial? The motivational factor in humanresource formation sets it apart from otherkinds of investments. This is a factor we canill afford to ignore.

By implication, I have already antici-pated the most important functions of theschools in preparation for vocations; Schoolsare above all the place where youth must ac-quire the capabilities of widest and most gen-eral applicability; the schools have not donetheir job of yocational preparation if theirgraduates have net learned how to learn. Thismeans training in the skills that extend capa-cities to shift roles with dynamic changes inlabor market demands. The skills or thecomponents of skills that have such generalitydo not become obsolete, and the earlier suchlearning can take plan the better. Theargument that foregone incomes will be leapand the pay-off period will be longer is validso :Jn,g as motivation can be sustained andlearning in fact takes place; only under veryspecial circumstances is basic general edu-cation advantageously located in a worksetting.16 In fact the demands on our schoolsso far as generalized trainIng is concernedhave been constantly rising, to include, forexample, much stronger offerings in mathe-matics and basic science even for those whowill go directly from secondary school into

the world of work. This is learning to dosomething "practical, " let us make no mistakeabout it. At a conference on vocational educa-tion that I aVended a year ago, one of the parti-cipants objected: "It would seem from this dis-cussion that all a young ma.: needed was to sayto a potential employer 'I don't know anything,but I'm adaptable'. " But this turns things up-side down. What the job applicant with asound general education can say is "I have themastery of tools that will enable me to lear:inew jobs rapidly and to acquire ever growingcompetence through work experience." If hereally has such training he knows a lot. Thetruth of this is evidenced by the facts thatearnings of men with better general trainingr1 3t more steeply through time, and such menre,:leive more training on the job.

In stressing the primary and crucialrole of schools, as agencies that teach menhow to learn, I am not stating that this is theonly thing they caa properly do, higher pro-fessional training aside. If we take anotherlook at the six questions with which I introduc-ed this section, it becomes obvious that train-ing in clerical skills, for example, is veryproperly located in the public schools. It isno accident that proprietorial schools are alsoespecially important in this field. The gamutof stenographic, secretarial, bookkeeping andaccounting skills, at all levels, are in widedemand across the economy, and there is noevidence that absolute demands are decliningon account of automation. Equipment is rela-tively inexpetsive and does not become obso-lete. What is happening is that the level ofperformance expected is rising. but note onceagain that this rising level of demand refersnot so much to the specialized aspects of train-ing as to the basic underlying command oflanguage and mathematics. Here we have aspiraling effect of the expansion and improve-ment of schooling upon demands for still moreand better general education.

Where, then, do the technical and tradecourses of study come in? And what are theimplications of all this for curralar reformand related changes in their offerings? Itseems clear, if we follow through with the

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previous lines of argument, that training Pimathematics and applied science must haveincreasing priority for those capable of master-ing these disciplines. Along with this goes thepresumption that the training of junior techni-cians will be moved increasingly to the juniorcollege level.16 However, there are alsosome kinds of widely applicable skills that haveas yet been little developed in technical second-ary curricula, but that are readily learned byyoung teen-agers and clearly meet the condi-tion that they have learning-to-learn attributesand do not rapidly obsolesce. The most strik-ing example is probably elementary computerprogramming which may be taught quite aswell in general as in technical curricula, bythe way. Although the equipment required forsuch instruction is expensive and does indeedobsolesce, that obsolescence is not criticalto the learning process. With expansion of themarket, this is becoming increasingly an ap-propriate subject for instruction in some ofthe big city schools.

But what of training in the skilledtrades, ranging from carpenters and weldersto beauty parlor operatives and tailors? Manyof these trades fit the specification that they arein wide demand and do not obsolesce to a degreethat their practitioners cannot counter. Tothis extent, at least, schools may compete ef-ficiently with other agencies in the provision oftraining. How far other factors might swingthe balance I am in no position to guess, butone fact clearly commands our attention. Formany of these trades there are proprietorialor union-sponsored training facilities that arepatronized by both high school graduates anddrop-outs. Which of the proprietorial schoolsor union apprenticeship programs may havespecial training advantages that could be identi-fied in a cost-effectiveness analysis of theiractivities vis-a-vis those of public tradeschools I do not know. In any case, whetherthey are high school drop-outs or graduatef,,students attending the proprietorial commer-cial and trade schools are frequently nightstudents and among the less rather than themore able to pay their tuition fees. Thisraises the question: when would the most

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efficient and equitable alternative be to public-ly sponsor teen-age students in proprietorialor union apprentice trade programs? Whenmight an uninhibited economic choice lead usto suggest that a school establish, for ex-ample, its own beauty business for studentcustomers (paying or not)? There is no rea-son why these and other programs could notco-exist. In fact, quite a few problemsmight be alleviated if we issued school cou-pons to adolescents in the age range from say,15 to 18, allowing them to spend those couponsfor "tuition" at either public or approved pro-prietary schools. When I first heard thissystem expounded, in a more sweeping ver-sion,17 I was particularly critical of its im-plications at the lower rangers of the abilityand/or motivation scales, but I have comevirtually to reverse my position. I am notat all sure but that it would hold promise forthe involvement of drop-out-prone youth inparticular. It could modify the inequities inschooling costs for low-income youth that nowcharacterize the mix of public and proprietor-ial establishments. It would certainly pro-vide a greater measure of flexibility in ad-justments of educational offerings to changesin demands for craft and service skills.

THE MANPOWER FORECASTER ANDDECISIONS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

There can be no doubt that whateverelse its effects may prove to be, the Vocation-al Education Act of 1963, hereafter calledsimply "the Act", has stirred up plenty ofscurrying hither and thither among an expand-ing circle of manpower assessors. As parti-cipants in this conference are well aware, inorder to receive its allotment of Federal fundsa state must submit to the Commissioner ofEducation a plan insuring that local vocationaleducation programs will be adapted in the lightof ". . . information regarding current andprojected manpower needs and job opportuni-ties . . . ." The plan must also incorporatea cooperative arrangement with public em-ployment offlees to supply "occupational in-formation regarding reasonable prospects of

employment in the community and elsewhere"to state vocational education planners andlocal educational agenoies concerned withthese matters. Such information is to be usedboth for vocational guidance of students andto determine the occupations for which train-ing will he offered. Vocational schools inturn are supposed to provide the EmploymentService with information concerning numbersgraduating and being trained for variousoccupations. Today, four years after pass-age of the Act, assessments of degree ofconformance with its labor market informa-tion and inter-agency cooperation provisionsare appearing.18 To many the results aredisappointing, whether or not surprising:cooperative agreements have been signed ofcourse, but action under them is anothermatter. Moreover, even the best of the pro-liferating "Area Skill Surveys" are beingcriticized as unsuitable for translation intocurriculum implications. Are these experi-ences attributable primarily to "obstinatetraditions of independence and non-coopera-tion between schools and employment ser-vices, " or inadequate "team spirit, " as someassert? Are they simply the kinks and grow-ing pains that we can expect in new programsand that will be smoothed out with time? Orare there some fundamental difficulties in-herent in the whole way in which the Act, theroles of manpower assessors, and the kindsof information needed and alternatives to beconsidered in educational decision makingare conceived? In my judgment there aresuch inherent difficulties. Many (not all) fthem boil down to the too-sweeping assump-tions of universal "inelasticities of factorsubstitution, " and "inelasticities of demands"at refined levels of occupational classifiaation,together with a narrowly "vocational" identi-fication of a specified skill package and of thelatter with an individual. This is an eco-nomist's way of saying quite a lot that cannotbe elaborated here, but we can accomplish agood deal by starting more modestly and con-cretely, with the skill packages. How far does(and in educational policy-making we may askhow far should) the equation "individual =skill

package = occupation" hold?The distinction between analysis of

"skill" versus of "occupational" supplies anddemands is a critically important one. It hastwo partially independent facets: there is theproblem of identification of just what the skillcomponents of a particular "occupation" areand how stable they are from one place or timeto another. There is also the queetion as tohow far what is needed by educational plannersis identification of skill demands that cut acrossoccupations or of the skill combinations that gointo particular occupations. The traditionalstance of "vocational education", almost bydefinition, has been to look at occupations asthe units for training, putting together theskill mixes that an "occupation" requires.19However, it is not at all clear how far thisposition should be maintained today, certainof the more trauitional and less demandingtrades aside. We may illuminate this secondissue by taking a look at empirical evidenceon the first.

The U.S. Employment Service has along history of occupational research that hasentailed careful analyses of skill mixes associ-ated with various jobs; that analysis is used inthe definitions given in successive issues ofthe Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and theDictionary, in turn, is used in local Area SkillSurveys, in some of the more modest locallabor-market studies associated with MDTAprograms, and in national labor force surveys.This might suggest that my distinction be-tween "occupations" and "skills" was a quibbleso long as we stay with the skill-package viewof vocational training. But many more diffi-cult:es have been encountered in these sur-veys than the unitiated might expect, difficul-ties that arise from the fact that ours is aneconomy characterized by continuous adapta-tion and change in thousands of separate,though interacting, centers of activity. Asanyone who has undertaken an intensive labormarket analysis of job structures, recruitment,promotion and wages is fully aware, it is oftenextremely difficult to identify jobs that arecomparable across firma even in the sametown and the same industry. Furthermore,

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there is ample ev'dence to show that longer-term changes in the quality and productivityof labor are ass,nlated with changes withinthe same "occupational" rubrics to an evengreater exten+ than with changes in the oc-cupational structure as those changes areusually measured." It is hardly surprising,then, that manpower forecasters have hadeven more difficulty in projecting skill thanin projecting "occupational" shifts; this ex-perience has been repeated in country aftercountry. Yet it is skills, not occupations,that are relevant to educational decisions,whether educators choose to set up curriculathat combine training in skills required forparticular "occupations" or to slice it theother way. Given the dynamics of techno-logical change, I very much suspect that themost serious and best justified criticisms ofvocational education stem from its inheritanceof an orientation of the "occupation", anorieniation that may be appropriate to train-ing for some of the more traditional trades(and that serves very well as an aid to craftunions in maintaining their positions), butan orientation that is clearly inappropriatein preparation at secondary school levelsfor careers that will develop along the grow-ing fronts of economic change. For thatmatter, on those fronts the whole notion of"occupational requirements" begins to looka bit topsy turvy; more pertinent is the ques-tion what skills or clusters of skills con-tribute to proficiency in either various orparticular occupations, whether or not theyfit into a slot defining what any particularoccupation "requires."

Clearly, to tackle questions posed inthis way calls for labor market analysis of ahigh order. Indeed, increased ability to makecertain kinds of predictions as these come outof better understanding of processes of changein labor market demands is much to be de-si 'ed, and not only for what this could con-tribute to better educational planning but forother purposes as well. Looking more speci-fically to the kinds of labor market analysisand projections most useful for vocationaleducation decisions, what can we say about

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types of skills to which attention shouldespecially be directed, and about the rele-vance of assessments at the national versusat the local labor market levels? A criticallead into this question has already been pro-vided in the preceding section, on human re-source formation in schools versus on-the-job.Taking that section as read into this one, wecan begin by concentrating attention on thekinds of skills that are proper candidates forsecondary school and junior college curricula.Among these we can set aside the most generalkinds of skills, in language, mathematics andbasic science; if there is one thing the eco-nomist can predict with assurance it is thecontinuing demand for such competencies,whatever specialties may be built on to them.This virtually takes care of the secretarialside of commercial subjects as well. Thereis wide applicability of such skills and therecan be no doubt of the long-term stability indemands; specialized equipment is compara-tively inexpensive and depreciates as fast asit obsolesces so far as training-relevantobsolescence is concerned; and the specializedcomponents of such training constitute a small(and declining) fraction of the whole. It does-n't take a manpower forecaster to point out thatthe teaching of bookkeeping and sub-accountingskills in many of our secondary schools hasbeen obsolescing and some major overhaulingmay be in order; an economist may have alittle something special to say on this at amore detailed level than is appropriate here.

This brings us closer to the morespecialized and/or newer, non-traditionalskills, where decisions are more difficult. Itis convenient to simplify presentation here bytreating what is really a skill continuum asthough it were a dichotomy; there should beno difficulty to the reader in conceiving vari-ous mixes that lie in between. On the onehand, we have skills on the frontiers of de-velopment, as computer programming; onthe other hand, we have trade skills that re-quire less abstract or conceptual learning,are more traditional, and may offer the beatopportunities available to students lackinginclination or aptitude for the learning of

other kinds of skills.The former, skills on the frontiers of

development, offer a special challenge tolabor market diagnostician and educationalplanner alike; in my judgment there is no doubtwhatsoever that we could do much better on thisfront if we would focus upon identifying the new-er or rising skills that have wide applicability,and that unquestionably promise long-term de-mand stability or growth. Only such skills areproperly tai-en on by most schools or schoolsystems. Economists specializing in labormarket analysis for manpower forecasting haveobligations to make better use than heretoforeof their analytical heritage and their knowledgeof economic processes in a focus upon thisstrategic area. While there can be no doubtthat new programs or curricular innovationsstemming from such analysis will be mostsuccessful if they are first introduced in areasin which the new job opportunities are mostconcentrated, no special attention to local asagainst national labor markets is entailed.

Turning now to the trades that aremore traditional and/or make less demandsupon abilities to deal with abstractions, wehave problems of a different kind. The gradu-ates of such trade courses are peculiarlyvulnerable to shifts in labor market conditions,and especially so if they are trained in skillssubject to sharp cyclical fluctuations. Thesestudents become the men and women with themost constrained range of activities in whichthey can apply their skills. The problem ofsecuring entry to the job market is aggra-vated wherever wage rigidities block marketadjustments and monopolistic controls restrictentry, but by the same token once an individu-al becomes established he is protected bythese restrictions. Under these circumstancesit should hardly be surprising that the mostsevere criticisms of vocational school offer-ings are commonly directed to the "over-supplying" of graduates in one or another ofthe traditional trades.

The first problem to recognize is theproblem of short-run variabilities as dis-tinct from longer-run trends. The schoolscannot and should not switch their programs

with every temporary whiff of the winds, andneither, for that matter, should vocationalguidance workers.21 On the other hand,longer-term trends in the occupational struc-ture will be taken into account by rational andinformed educational decision-makers. Edu-cational systems have their own momentum,and there can be no doubt that some trade pro-grams persist and are even automatically ex-panded when more adequate attention to longer-run trends would indicate their reduction. Agood manpower forecaster can and does pointto the broader national trends that constitutethe background for such decisions. However,this does not say what particular schools inparticular places would be best advised to do.This, I suggest, is where we have specialneed for more intensive examination of boththe range of training alternatives within andoutside of the schools and the local labor-market situation. However, and this is im-portant, if we are to serve those most inneed of trade training the definition of whatconstitutes a "local labor market" mustencompass a territory as wide as may berequired to provide a meaningful range ofjob prospects. For schools in remote areasof heavy out-migration, the whole notion ofa "local labor market" then becomes elusive.The relevant "local" market is far from local.It is made up of the multiple destinations towhich the bulk of young migrants will stream:near or far this tends to be the destinationsin which they already have brothers andsisters and cousins. To define the pertinent"local markets" more narrowly is to specifythat youth in the remoter and more depressedareas in particular are not to be counted.22

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The major themes and conclusions ofthis paper can be summed up briefly:

I. Although I have used the term"vocational" in the narrow sense that identi-fies it with conventional usage among educa-tors, this can be very misleading. Vocationalpreparation, in the sense of preparation totake an active and productive place in the

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economy, encompasses almost everythingthat schools teach, but especially instructionin the general foundation subjects that pro-vide men with the capacities to teach them-selves -- language, mathematics, and basicscience.

2. The most important contributionsthat economists can make as advisors toeducational planners, including decisions con-cerning "vocational education" in particular,stem from a basic analytical framework thatcalls for the systematic examination and as-sessment of alternatives in terms of specifiedgoals, resource limitations, and "productionfunctions" (in this context the effects of vari-ous ways of combining resources on the learn-ing results and their value). Economic re-search directed to these problems is as yetno more than a squalling infant, and it needsa lot more nourishment before we can expectmuch of it. But more and more refined re-search is not the only, or even the first need.In my judgment a first requirement is that afew economists sit side by side with educatorsin mutual learning and problem solving ses-sions.

3. Following upon 2, I suggest furtherthat a more creative and intensive explorationof both alternative loci and timing of differenttypes of learning is long overdue. Actuallysociety is moving ahead of us in this direction.We are beginning to get feed-backs from ex-perimentation with adult up-grading programs(including benefit/cost assessments of them).Meanwhile progressive business leaders havebecome increasingly involved in educationalendeavors with the less advantaged, not onlyfor adults but even in a few cases with school-age children. These developments shouldfurther loosen up the tacit, unrecognized con-straints that have limited decision-making withrespect to vocational education in the second-ary schools. The results should be a muchmore creative and systematic search intoalternatives, both within those schools and intheir relations with other agencies.

4. It is time that we took a new lookat "the drop-out problem": is drop-out infact at the heart of the problems faced by

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youth who are unable to make satisfactoryadjustments in the world of work? Oncewe take fuller account of the fact that theschools are not the only non-family agenciesof training and acculturation, and that someof these tasks may be better done throughother channels, perhaps less concern willbe given to retention in school, more to thedrawing of d rop- ou t- p r on e youth into activelearning and working lives.

5. When a new-style conventional-style manpower assessor meets an old-style conventional vocattonalist in the equa-tion "individual = skill package = occupation,"the effect is a building up of fictional pro-blems and the aggrbvation of real ones. Thefictional problems stern from rigid assump-tions of inelasticities of substitution and thefocus on "what does an occupation require?"rather than "what is the range of applicabil-ity and the productivity effects of variousskills?" The real problems are faulty edu-cational decisions that are biased againstchange and in support of obsolescent prac-tices and monopolistic labor-market con-straints -- despite the clear intention of theVocational Education Act of 1963 to do justthe opposite.

6. The economist specializing inlabor market analysis for manpower fore-casting has a special obligation to makebetter use than heretofore of his analyticalheritage and his knowledge of economic pro-cesses. This calls for analyses that will

cut through the skill-occupation matricesfrom a skill perspective. Most important,it calls for special emphasis on the frontiersof change, to identify the newer (or rivingolder) skills that have wide applicability andfor which it is reasonable to expect long-term growth. These are the frontiers atwhich labor market analysis can help guideeducators to the most promising and importantinnovations in curricula, and not only at ageneral but also in some cases at quite de-tailed levels of specification.

7. By virtue of his profession, theeducator has a special obligation (a) to guardagainst tendencies of manpower techniciansto think in terms of either abstracted skillsor occupations to the neglect of people, and(b) to keep an open mind to training andlearning alternatives outside of the formalschool system. It is not two-legged skillsor tidy skill packages that hop about insearch of places; It is multi-dimensionalmen and women who will find or not findsatisfactory jobs and careers, in which theycan make useful contributions to the society.That people must be central should be suf-ficiently obvious when we remember thatthe schools are preparing children and youthfor a forty-to-fifty-year working and learn-ing life in an economy in which the one realcertainty is the certainty of change.

FOOTNOTES

lOccasionally economists even condemn themselves and their profession for failure toprovide just such "answers". It is difficult for the layman to distinguish between such self-con-demnations and the self-criticisms that point to misapplications of our analytical tools or to theobligation to undertake more refined empirical and analytical research as a basis for providingmore pertinent guidance in the making of decisions concerning human resource developmentpolicies and programs.

2He may of course set his own priorities, but as a man, not as an economist. In myview, any economist who deserves to be called a man will do so: but he is under a special obliga-tion, in view of his profession, to be explicit about such values whenever they are relevant.

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3Neither do I intend explicitly to discuss "systems analysis". Methods sometimes labeled"systems analysis" are implied in the more complex variants of benefit/cost and cost-effective-ness analysis.

4Research into these experiences continues. For summary evaluations of work completedthrough 1966 see Gerald G. Somers, The Experience with Retraining and Relocation (in press,Wiley and Sons), and Thomas I. Ribich, Education and Poverty (mimeo), The Brookings Institution,1966.

5/ do not want to exaggerate these distinctions, however. The need for publicly financedfuture up-grading programs will be in part (though only in part) a function of what is done in theschools today. Further, many of the considerations that are relevant in the regular schoolingversus on-the-job training comparisons are similarly relevant in assessments of alternatives withrespect to loci and financing of adtlt up-grading efforts.

6Here I 1m referring to money valuations that are moored, directly or indirectly, to themarket, including imputations of market values, as in the pricing of student time. In principleit would be possible to set up fictional pricing systems that introduce quite different valuationcriteria, but unless the decision situation is very narrowly defined, within sharp constraints,fictional pricing of all relevant variables is another matter. Individuals get around this quiteeasily in the thousands of conscious and unconscious choices that they make because all that theyneed is an ordering of preferences, not measurement of the distances between them; these arethe "n-dimensional preference surfaces" that economic theorists pos't. But an n-dimensional pre-ference surface for a society as a whole is not even a theoretical possibility, let alone an empirical-ly observable phenomenon.

7T. W. Schultz gives estimates that put this figure at 60 percent in the United States in1956 and in Israel and Mexico in 1957; the estimate for Venezuela in the same year was 80 percent.(See his Economic Value of Education, Columbia University Press, page 29.)

8 Usually they are screened for entry. Those not accepted then revert back into generalcurricula.

9The best studies thus far available are (1) Michael K. Taussig's assessment of evidencefrom various sources for New York State in his paper "An Economic Analysis of Vocational Edw .cation in the New York High Schools, prepared for the Conference on Vocational Education, TheBrookings Institution (April 17-18, 1967) and (2) Arthur J. Corazzini's follow-up study of gradu-ates of various courses in the secondary schools of Worcester, Massachusetts, presented at thesame conference under the title "The Decision to Invest in Vocational Education: An Analysis ofCosts and Benefits." The papers for that conference are being revised for publication by Brook-ings. Other studies are in process. The most important to my knowledge is that directed byJacob Kaufman, at the Institute for Research on Human Resources, Pennsylvania State University.An interim report of their findings gives the most optimistic estimates thus far so far as thebenefit /cost balance in vocational-technical education is concerned. However, these preliminaryresults do not include capital and equipment costs and commercial are not distinguished fromtechnical-industrial or trades curricula (both of which bias the estimates of cost differentialsdownwards); also they do not separate males from females. In other respects this is the mostadequate study to date, however, and the revised and expanded final report, a year hence, shouldbe of considerable interest.

10There is some evidence to this effect in the preliminary findings of the Pennsylvania StateUniversity study, though it is not yet possible to distinguish the sexes and the problem of separat-ing out the commercial course graduates remains. Further evidence is provided by a preliminaryexamination of results from an eight-year follow-up study of male graduates of various streamsin a huge Chicago multi-course high school; that study explicitly explored on-the-job training and

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earnings time paths, controlling for ability and some other traits.11The reference is to data provided in the paper by Corazzini (see footnote 9), but not to

his way of treating them, which was erroneous when it came to the incorporation of the drop-outprevention effects in the benefit/cost calculations.

12 This is the case even if we take an extreme structuralist view of unemployment pro-blems (which I do not). There is no need to join the structuralist versus demand-deficiency debatehere.

For an extremely interesting benefit/cost analysis of a special drop-out preventionexperiment, see Burton A. Weisbrod, "Preventing Highschool Drop-outs, " in Robert Dorfman(ed), Measuring the Benefits of Government Investments (Brookings, 1965).

13Ribich takes reduction of poverty as his assumed goal in what is essentially a cost-effectiveness analysis of various alternatives, but incorporating benefit/cost analysis whereverpossible for sub-problems. See his Education and Poverty (o. k._ cit.).

14A strict benefit/cost accounting in terms of national income effects might of course leadus to reject both alternatives, especially for "hard core" cases; but the comparisons will still berelevant even under such circumstances if we consider the end of drawing such youth into theworld of work as worth some sacrifice in aggregate national product.

16Basic lower-level general education is in fact being provided for selected workers insome large corporations today, as an essential preparation for more specialized training. Thisis exceptional, however. While I would raise no question as to the profitability of such invest-ments to the firm assuming that the men are already hired and that they will stay on, the hiringof nevi employees on such a basis would not be undertaken in other than an extremely tight labormarket or as a social welfare measure.

16If they are not fully understood, economists' findings that unadjusted rates of return toinvestments in the first two years of college are low would be misleading here. Those low ratesreflect the fact that the bulk of the adult population with "some college" is made up of men whodropped out of four-year courses. This is a negatively selected group in ability and/or motiva-tion, and their post-secondary schooling is not at all that of the junior technical college.

17See Milton Friedman, "The Role of Government in Education, " Chapter VI of hisCapitalism and Freedom, University of Chicago Press, 1962.

18An overview of this situation is included in a paper by Gerald G. Somers on "TheResponse of Vocational Education to Labor Market Changes, " (prepared for the Conference onVocational Education at the Brookings Institute, April 17-.18, 1967, mimeo).

19This has more distinctively American features than most of us suppose. The various"technical" streams in the French and German systems, for example, can be terminal at severalsteps along the way or continue up through post-graduate university levels; this means that moreof the students in technically oriented curricula receive intensive training in foundation subjectssuch as applied mathematics and science at the secondary level, whereas students who go throughour technical secondary schools receive comparatively little of this. This is a somewhat para-doxical twist when we consider the American faith in the "comprehensive" idea, and the frank andovertly Justified streaming of students on the European continent.

49It must be admitted here, however, that the occupational categories used in such studiesare broader than those in Area Skill Surveys that attempt detailed use of the Dictionary OfOccupational Titles.

21Manpower assessments on a national level without national control of numbers of placesin various training programs can easily aggravate short-term swings between shortages andexcess; swings in engineering enrollments, entry salaries, and publicising of projected shortageor excess illustrate this tendency. It is arguable that the more locally oriented labor marketanalyses are less likely to have such effects, more likely to help smooth short-run adjustments.

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However, I know of no evidence on this point, one way or the other.22This is all the more serious in view of the fact that such areas will not have proprietorial

schools to fill the gap.

Michael J. Piore

REACTION

In concluding her paper, "Decisions for Vocational Education: An Economist's View, "Dr. Mary Jean Bowman comments that for economists to participate in the formulation of educa-tional policy "the first requirement is that a few economists sit side by side with educators inmutual learning and problem solving sessions." Her paper is an attempt to open this dialogue bypresenting :pie economist's view. As an economist, I share that view. The important reactionsare not mine but those of the educators in the audience. I can only expand upon the themes whichDr. Bowman has already developed. I do so at some risk for Miss Bowman has presented theview of the economist with a circumspection and attention to the limitations of the discipline thatis not easy to maintain.

I would like, in my comments, to re-inforce the sceptism evinced in the paperabout the economic contribution of narrowvocational education as it exists today. Muchof Dr. Bowman's sceptism derives from limita-tions inherent in the attempt to prepare peoplefor very specific skills and occupations. Tosucceed in this endeavor, the content of theeducation must keep abreast of changes in oc-cupational requirements. The curriculum inmany vocational education courses, however,is built into heavy industrial equipment, andadjustment in the curriculum is deterred bythe capital investment required to changethat equipment. Similar problems are en-countered in keeping the teachers abreast ofchange. Such rigidities are overcome whentraining is conducted in the enterprise by theintimate connection between the training andthe productive process.

The rigidities in the school curriculumare not insurmountable. The relevant question

is whether the cost of surmounting them iswarranted when compared to the costs ofalternative methods of meeting the relevantoccupational requirements. As Dr. Bowmanis careful to point out, we do not yet knowthe answer to this question. But, in prin-ciple, economists should be able to answer it.

It seems to me, however, that thereis a more basic question here: Whether thepublic school system, as an institution iscapable of overcoming the rigidities in thevocational curriculum even if the costcalculus suggests that it do so. The require-ment of flexibility is impressed upon theproductive enterprise by the necessity ofsurvival as a profit making institution in amarket economy. The public school systemoperates in a.very different environment,and the system of rewards and constraintsinherent in that environment may precludethe requisite flexibility.

The difference between the school and

*Dr. Piore is AssistaLt Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

82

the productive enterprise was brought hometo me by the experience of a machine toolmanufacturer which established a specialvestibule training program to meet an acutelabor s':ortage. To run the program, themanufacturer hired a vocational educationteacher from the local school system. WhenI visited the plant, the program had just beendiscontinued because of the supervisory com-plaints that the training was "ruining" newrecruits. Tho major problem, it turned out,was that the teacher taught the recruits to betoo sparing of raw materials and too carefulnot to ruin the machinery. As a result, therecruits were unable to meet the pace of pro-duction on the plant floor. The teacher taughtin this way because materials and machinerywere the major constraints upon the vocationprogram in the schools. But the plants"vocational" requirements were determinedby a different set of constraints. In thiscase, the major constraint operative in theplant but not in the school was time.

The particular problem which thisexample illustrates can be overcome. Themanufacturer had, in fact, already takensteps to do so by retraining the teachers ithad hired and contributing scrap materialand its own machine repair services to hisschool. But such solutions do not overcomethe institutional differences which createdthe problem in the first place. The most dis-turbing aspect of the example is that the dis-covery of the problem was fortuitous and thesolution particular and possibly temporary.There was little to indicate that the new ar-rangement between the school and the plantwould last once the labor shortage had abatedor that it would spread to other schools andother occupations. For the more basic pro-blem of keeping equipment and teachersabreast of technological developments, a oneshot infusion is certainly not sufficient. Ifvocational education is to meet this problem,incentives must be provided to maintain theequipment and teachers on a continuing basis.The provision of these incentives will requirechanges in the institutional environment inwhich the school operates.

83

The design of an institutional environ-ment to meet specified goals is, in principle,an area in which economists should be ofsome help. We have not, to now, been muchconcerned with this area. Our lack of interesthas been a product, I be'ieve, of a preoccupa-tion with the private economy, where the re-quired incentives are by and large present,and, in our theoretiJal work, with the specialprivate case of a perfectly competitive modelwhere the incentive structure is, by definition,optimal. The increasing involvement of theeconomics profession in the governmental andnonprofits sectors should strengthen our under-standing of institutional structures and theireffect upon behavior. Those who seek ouradvice should be pushing us in this direction.I do think that we can eventually be moregermane than Milton Freedman and his pro-posal of educational script. (Though I wouldmyself reserve tl:e right to continue to tootit upon occasion.)

For vocational education, the key tothe problem will prcve, I believe, to be thecreation of linkages between the privatesector, where incentives to overcome obso-lescence are already present, and the schoolsystem where they are not. One way to achievethis linkage is to induce employers to act as apressure group. Such inducements are pre-sent in a tight labor market when employersface labor shortages and are, hence, in acuteneed of the output of the schools. Unfortun-ately, tight labor markets in our economy areof short duration, too short to generate acontinuing employer interest. We must, there-fore, look for a substitute.

In higher education, the substitute isthe linkage between teaching and research.It is probably not possible to reproduce thiskind of mechanism in the vocational educationsystem, although it should be noted thatcraftsmen do participate in the final develop-mental stage of new industrial technologiesand, to this extent, there is a place for voca-tional teachers in research if not for theirstudents.

Perhaps a substitute can be developedout of he limitations of on-the-job training.

84

One such limitation, for example, is thattrainees have low seniority and, in looselabor markets, tend to he laid off. Thisinterruption of training is not only detri-mental to the learning process; it frequentlyalso results in the trainee investment. Per-haps, in loose labor markets, it would bepossible for the school system to temporarilyreabsorb the trainees using the time forsupplemental instruction. The temporaryexpansion might be faciliated by using asteachers supervisorary personnel who,during the slack periods, are redundant inindustry. Complimentary seasonal andcyclical patterns in different industriesmight reduce the peak load problem in the

schools.I suggest this only as an example, but

I do hope it indicates that there is room foradditional thinking along these lines.

I would end, nonetheless, on a cau-tionary note. One characteristic of the pro-blem of obsolescence and rigidity is thatbrand new schools will always be betterattuned to occupational requirements thanold ones. In a period when new schools arebeing built, things will, therefore, look tobe improving. But the critical test is whetherthe new schools, as they age, can maintainthe capacity to meet occupational require-ments. For this, success at the forefrontof vocational education As a poor indicator.

$4,4 4,4 4. 0,1`,17....4,44,14,, .4,04,4.44444,4

MANPOWER

I var Berg'

MANPOWER ANALYSIS AND VOCAL IONAL EDUCATION:PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES

Students of manpower problems do not represent a single discipline; it is therefore notpossible, ik response to the invitation, to lay out a "manpower pet spective" in the same sense thateconomists and sociologists can lay out the perspectives they bring to bear in analyzing problemsattending social davelopment. Indeed, the perspectives of those who study manpower problems arelikely to be those of the seprrate disciplines -- principally economics, sociology, and psychology --from which they move in their research. I am obliged, therefore, to engage in a kind of rawempiricism and to focus on the strands in a tapestry of research findings, the overall design inwhich is not yet tIrribly clear. In the following pages 1 will examine seven broad sets of findingsfrom research or manpower problems which must of needs be the "functional equivalent" of a dis-ciplined perspective in which we may view vocational and technical high school and post high schooleducation. The strategy will be to delineate these sets of findings and to regard them, in turn, asevidence in support of propositions about the subject of our symposium.

I. Eduention and Job Opportunitter.:A Limited Perapective

There is no need to dwell at any lengthon the point that the educational achievementsof individuals have become Inca easingly im-portant to their occupational achievements.Employers, policy makers, and even criticsamong the leaders of America's Alisadvan-teged" populations sing praises, if somewhatdiscordantly, of schooling as an importantmeans of economic salvation. While it Is true,as we shall see below, that one may easilyexaggerate in this context the case for educa-tion, it is nevertheless clear that a numberof jobs have changed sufficiently in content torequire employers to fill them with betterEducated people. It is also true that there has

been somewhat greater evansion of jobs thattraditionally required more education than ofjobs that could be performed by people with'less" education.

These educational requirements Laveincreasingly come to be formulated in termsof diplomas and degrees, however, ratherthan in terms of specific edocrtional experi-ence. While some employers prefer to hirefrom among applicants those who have takena particular course or two, there is littleevidence that the bulk of employers pay muchMention to the overall program that applicantsactually pursue in schools, while much "credit"is given for the successful completion of totalcourses of study resulting in diplomas, certi-ficates, and degrees.

in this vein it is worth noting that

*Dr. Berg is an Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.

86

Kaufman and Schaefer, and others at ThePennsylvania State University, have shown thatth....re are relatively few observable differencesbetween graduates who pursue the three con-ventional high school programs in respect tojob experience, work satisfaction, or amongthe views held toward them and their performance by their employers.1 Top managers,according to their findings, credit the trainingafforded young employeen on the job whilepersonnel administrators ace employee ade-quacy as a reflection of their astute selectionstrategies, to be sure. But otherwise, themain differences in personnel and organiza-tional payoffs have to do with the median Wsof the non-college bound population, aid withrace and sex differences in salaries that mayreflect discriminatory policies in the marketplace more than anything elFe.

The point is that education, whateverthe particular type, is a good thing accordingto a growing number of employers, and thatyoung people vlho complete various blocks ofeducational programs are thbrefore betteroff than those who do not, almost without re-gard to whether the words on the degreesand diplomas would serve to indicate some-thing specific about the substance of theeducational experiences these credentialssymbolize.

The implications for vocational edu-cation of the rather undifferentiated socialapproval of "completed education" would seemto be fairly clear. If it can be shown, asKaufman and his col/eagues tentatively sug-gest may be the case, that vocational pro-grams help hold students who might otherwisehave dropped cut, then it is this holding powerthat comes to be most significant in an " edu-cation conscious" society. A search for pro-gram content that will help hold youngsterslong enough to qualify them for an educationalcredential would seem to make some consider-able sense as social investments go.

The Kaufman-Schaefer data furthersuggests that such research and the applica-tion of findings would have favorable resultsto the degree that school boards, teachers,and community business leaders support

87

Groin. These data indicate that such supportis not widespread, that many uninvolved busi-nessmen have little awareness of their signi-ficant roles in the "voc ed" area, that manyteachers have a narrow vie:, of education thatleads them to assume patronizing posturestowards vocational (and perhaps technical)education, and that more than a few schooladministrators treat vocational education witha rather cavalier disinterest.

Thus it would seem reasonable to inferthat appropriate action must be taken to correctthe perspectives of educators and to enlist theinvolvement of buoiness leaders (both of whichrelate empirically to the quality and breadth ofvocational training, to the realism of vocationaleducation's objectives and to the happier labormarket experiences of graduates) in respect tovocational education. It ought to be recognized,however, that it is certification and credential-Ilag, hence student interest, that are problema-tical, rather thar specific training, in an in-creasingly education-conscious society.

Educational Requirements for Jobs:A Broader Perspective

While one may affirm that there is agrowing need for high school, technical school,and college graduates in the American economy,one may not generalize that technological andother changes explain all of the increases toeducational requirements for jobs. indeed Itis not even so very clear that we are as"short" of highly educated manpower as theconventional wisdom in these matters maylead many of us to believe.

Thus there is evidence, collected bythe author, In collaboration with 1)r. MarciaFreedman or Columbia's Conservation ofHuman Resources Project, that the generalcharacter of the Issue is complicated, morecomplicated, indeed, than the conventionalwisdom suggests.

Consider the following table in whichthe proportions of jobs requiring three dif-ferent levels of what the U.R. EmploymentService calls "General Educational Develop-ment" (in 1956 and 1966) are compared with

88

the proportions of the experienced labor fortehaving achieved roughly equivalent levels ofeducation (according to the dicennial censusesin 1950 and 1960). The "requirements" arebased on studies of employer job descriptionsfor 4,000 occupational titles by skilled U.S.Employment Service job analysts 11.1956 andin 1966. The assignment of peoples' 'earsof formal education" to various OED categor-ies* is a problematical task and can be castin several versions, no one of which does fulljustice to one or more objections that could bemade by the careful observer. We have con-structed four versions, in addition to the onepresented in Table I, in each of which the sixcategories have been reduced to differentcombinations of three categories, and we arenot satisfied that any one of them is free ofdifficulties. The important thing for purposesof our symposium is that whatever the trans-lation problem, we at least can look at QEDand at population distributions over time;whatever the deficiencies, they are prettymuch constant and do not therefore detractfrom the comparative value of the data. Oneof the versions appears in Table 11.2

TLe data suggest that there has been amore rapid expansion of jobs in the "middle"category, that "high" education jobs have ex-panded somewhat faster for men than women,that those in the "middle" have expandedfaster for women than for men, and that edu-cational achievements have followed a patternaccording to which many highly educatedpeople are incumbents of jobs "requiring"(sometimes, as in case of women, substantial-ly) less education than they have achieved.One implication of these findings is thatemuloyers whose Jobs fall in the "middle"level are simply taking advantage of, or atleast believe they are benefiting, from theincreasing educational achievements of thework force by employing people of "higher-than-needed" educational achievement whenthey are available in a given labor market.

It may well follow from this that theeducational achievements of the nation's

*For**See

youth are important not for actually performingon jobs (for which less education would do),but for entry into jobs. Assuming that thelabor market does not remain forever tighta factor that would appear to loom large indetermining whether employers can raiseeducational requirements regardless of jobcontent and "actual" job requirements,** it isreasonable to conclude that the crucial issuefor the young is one of educational credentials.

When the labor market is tight, as Itis now, in a wartime period when a boomingeconomy experiences additional manpowerpressures, we may expect a loosening in edu-cational requirements. The full benefits ofsuch developments, however, reach the lessereducated and "uncredentialed" only very slow-ly; one does not reverse the processes at workin the tables overnight. The most immediateimplications for the symposium would seem tobe in the area of post-high school technicaleducation. Thus to the degree to wWch employ:ed Americans wish to "upgrade" thernse, ifli

and /lave access to educational plants facilitat-ing such additional training as upward occupa-tional mobility demands, to that extent willnew entry jobs become vacant. Again, how-ever, the "demands" Involved may be thosealleged by employers rather than requirementsthat inhere in jobs themselves.

In short we are embarked on thesolution of a problem that exists in part be-cause many people -- especially employers --choose to define requirements as they do. Theissue is in considerable part one of the credent-ials, not educational content part of our in-vestment in education is made in the light ofpreferences, al/egaiions, and convenient de-finitions, and not lid the light of "actual" jobrequirements. Young people are increasinglycaught in a web of social definitions not easilysupported by job analyses; getting them bettereducated reflects our acceptance in policy andideology of employer requirements. It there-fore matters more that we respond with pro-grams that will lead to credentials -- again,by holding youths in schools -- rather than to

a description of the OED categories, see Appendix A.Footnotes.

TA

BL

E I

Edu

catio

nal R

equi

rem

ents

for

Job

s an

d E

thic

., tio

nal A

chie

vem

ents

of

the

Exp

erie

nced

Lab

or F

orce

,19

50-1

960

(in

mill

ions

)

Req

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d Sc

ale

GE

D L

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*M

ale

Req

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d

1950

Mal

eA

chie

ved

Tot

alA

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ved

Edu

catio

nSc

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Tot

alFe

mal

eFe

mal

e

13.

8.2

3.9

10.3

2.6

12.9

Les

s th

an 8

yea

rs

28.

921

.66.

212

.415

.133

.98.

126

.32.

38.

010

.434

.38

year

s

38.

96.

014

.97.

93.

111

.01-

3 ye

ars

high

sch

ool

415

.71.

917

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44.

913

.34

year

s hi

gh s

choo

l17

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221

.211

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517

.85

2.2

1.3

3.5

2.9

1.6

4.5

1-3

year

s co

llege

6.9

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11.

12.

82.

81.

21.

24.

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17.

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510

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than

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App

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".

Tab

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I

Dat

a is

Tab

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Rec

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itute

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an

Alte

rnat

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Tra

nsla

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of G

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into

Sch

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1950

1960

GE

DR

equi

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Ach

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dA

ch.-

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d E

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360

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61.1

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51.1

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(4.1

)L

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hig

h sc

hool

4 &

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6.0

)44

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7.3

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radu

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and

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100.

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100.

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353

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65.0

%(4

11.6

)49

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56.2

%(4

6.5

)L

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than

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h sc

hool

4 &

544

.328

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6.3)

47.5

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(-13

.6)

H.S

. Gra

ds. a

nd th

ose

with

som

e. e

c.m

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teac

hing

.6

2.3

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(4 4

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2.8

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(4 7

.1)

Col

lege

/ sc

hool

ing

degr

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51.1

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and

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specific skills.Evidence on the point comes from an

analysis in N.Y. State, by the N.Y. Deprrt-ment of Labor, of the achievements and re-quirements relating to technicians in that state.Technicians in most industries have not onlyachieved sufficient education to satisfy em-ployers' minimum requirements, but havecompleted even more education, on the aver-age, than is held to be ideally desired by thesemnnagers.

The upshot of these remarks is thatyoung people are being squeezed by education-al requirements and by the achievements ofthose alreaciLin the work force, facts thatperhaps make their credentials more impor-tant than their skills, facts that, in turn, be-come more serious as the labor marketloosens and that become only slightly less anissue when the labor market tightens.

Jcb requirements have indeed changed,but they have changed in a way that education-al policies tend to exaggerate. The beliefthat we are short of top-edu Jed people inAmerica must probably be tempered by thepossibility that our blAhly educated peopleare competing with lesser educated peoplefor jobs in the middle rows of Tables I andII.

It may be noted, In passing, thatemployers generally feel that they benefitfrom 'higher quality" work forces and believe,according to the statements in a small sampleof large company personnel administratorsinterviewed by the writer, that educationalachievement correlates with "quality." DataI have collected, and to which t will refer inpart V of this paper, indicate that employersmay rue the day they made this connectionin their minds between quality and education-al achievement.

Education and Promotability

Employers are inclined to justifythe hiring of people "too well educated" forjobs assigned them on the ground that thebetter educated personnel are needed forpromotion purposes. There is little evidence

91

bearing this out, The evidence of economiststhat investments in education pays a handsomereturn, usually based on observed associationsbetween education and income that would seemto bear out employers is somewhat suspect onthis point. These studies do not take accountof the degree to which peoples' salaries arepegged initially according to their educations,rathev, than productivity, in the hiring pro-cess.° The associations are thus to someindeterminate but probably substantial degreetautological. Since salaries and wages areused as measures of value added as well asincome in these studies, it cannot be assumedfrom the data that employers are getting pro-portionate quantities of productivity for thesalaries they pay either.

Such limited data as are available fromthe author's and colleagues' research, mean-while, indicates that the promotability argu-ment is a questionable one at best. Thus, forexample, better educated people In a given jobcategory Li d to have higher turnover rates,lea trig tt.e leaser educated to the availzblrpromotions and salary increases In an enter-prize. In a study of two large utilities, MarciaFreedman found that the variance in individualpromotions, both meaningful (i.e. title changesreflecting skill differences) and nominal(routine promotions requiring relatively littlescreening), could be largely explained byemployees' length of service; while specificcourses were significant, years of formaleducational achievement did not account forany of the observed variance in promotionexperiences, and most of the meaningful pro-motions took place in the early years of serv-ice, serving thereby to "lock" employees intothe firms for which they worked.

Vocational educators may learn fromthese data the importance of studying, byfollow-up research, the organizational careerexperiences of "voc. ed." graduates and build-ing the lessons of such research into the voca-tional curriculum. It is important to discover,once educational credentials help in workattachment and In what Dr. Freedman call"work establishment," what is needed by youngpeople to better prepare them, if I may use a

92

barbarism, to negotiate organizationalsystems. The findings of sociologists whoconsider problems of organization wouldpresumably provide a useful context withinwhich to Interpret the details of the careerexperiences of graduates two, five, and tenyears after starting work. One lesson fromthese studies may be that organizationalsuccess goes to those who "hand in there,"making the question of job choice All the moresignificant. That this choice process isragged has been demonstrated by Reynolds,some time ago, and more recently by Kaufmanand Schaefer whose data show that Job-seekingis a largely accidental process for the majori-ty of high school graduates of all educational"tracks" who do not go on to college.

IV. Technological Change and Labor MarketAnalysis

It is now fairly clear from the accumu-lating evidence that the effects of technologicalchange are more clearly visible at the communi-ty level than in the data employed in macro-economic analysis. The reader may profitablyconsider a brief non-technical piece on thedifficulty of estimating ,he effects of suchchanges o macro-analysis by Robert Solow.5It turns eut to be a most difficult choice in-volving all the conventional distinctions favoredby economists, not the least being that betweenshort-run and long-run effects.

At the community level, however, it ispossible to make some reasonable estimatesof the configurations of employment, employ-ment requirements, and labor force character-istics and to cope with some of the problemsearlier sections of the present paper havesought to highlight. Thus it would seem to bevery desirable indeed to ascertain the detailednature of employer requirements, a job inwhich U. S. Employment Service 1,ib analystscan be extraordinarily helpful in doing anddoing well. As modest as their facilities un-fortunately are, they can train appropriatepeople in the details of labor market as well asjob analysis, and work effectively with otheragencies who have cognizance over problems

attending the public's welfare at state and locallevcAs.

The findings in such studies and analy-ses must be worked into the program designsfor vocational education so that whatever pro-grams content may be important for students'occupational experiences can be appropriatelytailored to needs. However sovereign thecredentials may be over content in determiningthe job opportunities of non-colleg- bound stu-dents, there is need for ascertaining with moreprecision the residual role of specific taskcompetencies and aptitudes among those who docomplete degree programs.

Once again the Kaufman data are in-structive, for they demonstrate that there wasin general almost no relationship between voca-tional programs and the labor force require-ments of the communities in which the trainingwas offered, and this despite the very largeproportion of graduates who stay or rAurnto the communities in which they were"schooled."

behind the aggregated data in Tablesand II there lies a reality the nature of whichdeserves the systematic attention of education-al leaders, vocational educators and evengraduates. Guidance programs that do notbenefit from labor market analysis are simplynot doing the job, r. defect affecting perhapsas many as half of all high school graduates.It is at local and state levels ireariwille thatwe may note what technological and other de-velopments are doing to jobs, to employmentand to enterpr;ises. It 16 indeed at the locallevel that we may look at the millions of jobsin Tables I and 11 before they have been aggre-gated, in order to determine whether education-al requirements have gone up "for real" orbecause employers believe that raising educa-tional requirements is a desirable move.

V. The "Overeducated.' Worker

The points have already been made thatincreasing numbers of Americans, especiallywomen, are drifting into jobs with educationalachievements that are well above those neededfor adequate performance in these jobs, and

that employers view this development favor-ably. The logic offered the writer by busi-nessmen (promotability considerations aside)has typically been that this leads to an in-crease in the quality of their work forces.

It turns out, however, that when thequestion of the relationship between educationand "quality" is asked in empirical terms,the data do not support the practice of raisingeducational requirements. The data arc dis-parate in nature, but their cumulative weightis to give support to a different formulation.When I compared the "better" with the'lesser" educated workers in respect towork satisfaction, productivity, and a hostof other performance "variables, " I foundthat the better educated people In a given jobcategory in a given firm or industry contribut-ed as much or disproportionately more thanless educated workers to the pathologiesemployers spend fortunes to reduce bypersonnel and "human relations" programs.

It is not easy to see a solution to thisproblem generally, let alone in respect tovocational education graduates. The findingsdo bear upon post-high school technical edu-cation, however.

It is perhaps this type of educationthat is most easily defended in a society withgrowing demands for technicians. The pros-pects, however, are fair that technicianswith post-high school training, but withoutJob experience, will find themselves evenmore "underutilized" than high schoolgraduates, for employers only rarely willdisrupt their work groups by starting new,better educated employees without experi-ence in higher paying jobs than are availableto his experienced work force, especiallywhen the experience involved Is organization-al experience.

In the study by Dr. Marcia Freedman,already mentioned, it was determined that infour large employer organizations in the NewYork area, job titles were more often nominal-ly different and that skill differences did not,properly speaking, constitute a very differenti-ated hierarchy. Organizational know-how didseem to count however, and this know-how is

93

learned in organizations and not learned inschool. The result: technicians become dis-couraged that they must, more often than not,start low in the title hierarchy; they com: torealize in time that they would have beenbetter off had they been guided and helped intoengineering programs where a degree wouldhave qualified them for a higher level entLyjob. Thus, technicians in a paper companyon whom I have data had higher turnover rateswith increasing pre-job educational training;their reasons for leaving: to extend theireducations. It is not unlikely, meanwhile thatmany technically trained graduates of post-high school programs could complete collegeprograms in the sciences in some of thelesser prcsti ? institutions.

In the same context it should be notedthat vocational (along with other nun - collegebound) graduates can profitably be exposed tooccupational counseling in which the realitiesof organizational life are reviewed. Theabsence of sophisticated guidance for non-college-bound high school graduates and the,ad hoc process of job seeking undoubtedlycontributes to the poor match of expectationswith work experience and thus to dissatisfac-tion and frustration in the work place.

VI. Workers Expand in Numbers to FillAvailable Jobs

"Parkinson's Law" would seem to beamenable to an almost Infinite series ofapparently disparate formulations. Thus itis one of the nagging problems in the man-power area that people -- especially women-- come out of the woodwork when the demandfor labor increases. Since increasing de-mands for labor contributes to both price in-creases and wage increases, the tendencyIs for more people to be "teased" into thelabor force, or for more people to "moon-light," that is to take additional jobs. Underthese conditions employers in some instanceshave more, not fewer, choices to make amongjob applicants, and policy makers cannot de-pend upon tightened labor markets to solve theproblems of particular populations who suffer

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most when labor market conditions are loose.These facts underline the importance ofactivity at the local level designed to familiar-ize employers with educational programs andto involve them in educational planning in waysthat will help facilitate the emergence amongemployers of positive evaluations and commit-ments toward vocational programs. It Is per-haps more Important to a democratic societythat the young have job onportunities than thatmiddleagod people who moonlight or frequent-ly re-enter the labor force be enabled to en-gage in higher levels of consumption activity,a value choice of significant implications.

If is Inconceiveable that much can bedone, in the face of the developments noted,if the Job placement process is to be almostentirely ad hoe. Simultaneously it is incon-ceivable that the Job placement of the youngcan be even slightly rationalized If biggerinvestments are not made in bringing em-ployees, schools and the local offices ofEmployment Services into closer contact.The matching of training, people and jobsought probably never be a closed system, butthe anarchy facing the young can hardly serveany constructive purpose. The articulationsrequired would not have to threaten the free-doms of persons or employers in a societylong favoring the idea that a democracy de-pends in part upon an informed citizenry mak-ing personally gratifying choices. This shouldbe no less true in respect to occupationalchoice than in respect to political choice.

Vit. Negro Mobility as a "Piece of the Action"

While all the evidence is rot "in,"enough data have been processed by Dale Hie-stand, a Columbia oconomist, to indicate thatwhen Negroes experience new opportunities inthe economy it is because whites have beenmobile; Negroes are more likely to enteroccupations that are "vacated" by whites thanto compete with whites for "new" Jobs. Thedetails of dtestand's analysis are too numer-ous and their interrclationnhips too complexto deal with in this paper,'; but it is worthmentioning that he gives great weight, having

already identified the "significance of eco-nomic growth for minorities," to the Ideathat breakthrough into occupations come tothose who anticipate emerging areas of op-portunity. This is not an easy task to be sure,and the training of minority groups must con-tend with the discrimination they face fromemployers, unions and white workers. "Leap-frogging" Negroes into jobs not yet vacatedby whites or into new jobs that whites willotherwise be likely to monopolize, will not beeasy, especially since, as Tables I and IIshow, there is already substantial competitionfor "Middle-education jobs." 'Jut hard as itis, there Is no possibility at all without in-ventive work in our educational settings. Thusone may be discouraged by the emergence ofa rash of private post-high school courses incomputer technology for people who could insome instances be trained in public schoolswhere the access of people to training oppor-tunities is more easily guaranteed than it canbe after the period of required public elm 1-(ion ends.

Conclusion

We may state, by way of summary,that it is probably pointless to seek to dealwith vocational education apart from man-power developments and to detach discussionsof vocational education from discussion ofeducation and work generally.

Vocational education must be seenwithin these two larger frameworks; changesin vocational education must undoubtedly bemade, but it is no simple job to identify thenature of these changes apart from the con-straints imposed by developments and policieshaving to do with the evolvirit linkages betweenschooling and work. The governing issues arenot those over which vocational educatorshave very mach control, and it is the resolu-tions of these issues that bear most heavily vnvocational and technical education and the stu-dents pursuing such training.

Educational requirements for lobsare, as the burden of evidence in this papersuggests, In reality "educability requirements."

Vocational educators arc now, therefore,willy-nilly, in the business of certifying theeducability of their students almost withoutreference to the nature of the jobs these stu-dents will hold. I can sec no reason whyvocational educators should not seize someinitiative in changing this, by locating throughlabor market analysis and negotiations withemployers, a more differentiated role in theeducational process than one simply sharedwith all other educaL:rs.

Thus in some of our larger citiescorporations have undertaken to train em-ployees in subjects equally well taught byprofessional educators. As part of an effortto reduce the magnitude of youth-employmentproblems they have developed "in- house"guidance and training programs. Some ofthese companies would probably bn willing toshare with vocational educators the burdensthus undertaken. One of the biggest banksin New York city has even contemplated de-signing a program of its own in remedialreading that would increase opportunitiesfor it to hire young ghetto youngsters into asystem which affords numerous opportunitiesfor promotions to those who stay with thebank. In this context I would add that therole of corporations in Job Corps vocationalprograms needs to be questioned. Some ofthese ventures duplicate, at considerablygreater cost, those available in systems ofpublic education. An articulation of the twowould seem to be desirable indeed.

Vocational educators also have theopportunity to differentiate their owncurricula such that parts of the programsthey offer can have high admissions require-ments -- a technique for enhancing thestatus of vocational education and for discover-ing late bloomers among youngsters who driftInto "roc. ed. " programs because they havebeen "written off" in the early grades byeducators who operate with very narrow andconventional definitions of ability, definitionsthat tend to locus on reading and "quantitative"skill.

The easiest of all negotiations forvocational educators should be those they can

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enter with the booming non-profit sector,especially the public services. So far as Iknow little is known about the "real" require-ments for a growing number of public servicejobs. Yet the kinship of public schools tostate and local systems of government is suchas to facilitate, to a modest degree at least,effective exchanges on the matter of the laborrequirements with which those systems mustcontend.

One cannot, in conclusion, be optimisticabout the prospects facing vocational education.The fact that degrees and diplomas arc fixedin terms of numters of years means thatAmerica must face the "drop-out problem."This, in turn means facing the "reading pro-blem" in the lower grades, the "holding pro-blem" 'n the upper grades and the "qualityof schools" and the 'quality of program con-tent" problems at all levnls. The fact thatdegrees and diplomas are prerequisite forjobs means that America must face a credont-falling problem at the same time that portionsof the skill-and-difficulty hierarchy are in-creasing at uneven rates. Even economicgrowth doesn't answer all the problems, giventhe flexibility of Americans in facing thedecision to enter or not to enter the laborforce.

The crucial issues for vocational edu-cation are those of holding and helping stu-dents tenter occupations. I would urge thatthese educators avoid programs that 1) im-pose, by highly specialized training, unnec-essary constraints on choke, 2) that eschewcareful considerations of the placement pro-blem, 3) that do not provide abundant guidanceregarding occupations and opportunities and4) that are not very closely integrated withthe planning of employer' , public and private,in local and regional labor markets.

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FOOTNOTES

'Jacob J. Kaufman, Carl J. Schaefer, Morgan V. Levis, David W. Stevens, and ElaineW. House, The Role of the Secondary Schools in the Preparation of Youth for Employment,University Park, Pa.: Institute for Research on Human Resources, The Pennsylvania StateUniversity, February, 1967, Chapter 6.

2This work was undertaken in connection with an effort to update and extend an analysisby R. S. Eckaus, reported in "Economic Criteria for Education and Training" in Review ofEconomics and Statistics, Vol. 46, 1964, pp. 181 IL Our results will appear in a forthcomingmonograph.

3See M. W. Roder "Gary Becker's Human Capital: A review Article," The Journal ofHuman Resources, Vol. II, No. 1, p. 103; and Albert Flees, Review of Gary Becker, HumanCapital, in American Economic Review, September 1965, pp. 958-960.

4The Process of Work Establishment, New York: Columbia University Press, /968.6"Technology and Unemployment," The Public Interest. Vol. 1, No. 1 (Fall 1965),

p. 17-26.6See his Economic Growth and Employment Opportunities for Minorities, New York:

Columbia University Press, 1964, esp. pp. 109-119.

**Thus in a longitudinal study of employers' requirements for Jobs in New York's MonroeCounty, the National Industrial Conference Board discovered that educational requirements went

as high school commencement neared and went down again in the fall and winter seasons.

Morris A. Horowitz*

REACTION

summarizing the findings of various research activities on manpower problems as relatedto vocational education, Dr. Ivar Berg has presented seven basic topics: (I) Education and JobOpportunities: A Limited Perspective. Under this topic Dr. Berg notes that regardless of thetype of education, the diploma is the thing that employers want to see in a job applicant (this isthe credential). He indicates that for some students vocational education may have more holdingpower than general secondary school programs, and that vocational education perhaps capitalizeson this holding power. (II) Education Reqi!irernents for Jobs: A Broader Perspective. Dr. Berg'sanalysis of GED ratings in USES materials, and U.S. census data seem to imply that employersare hiring workers with "higher-than-needed" education achievements, when available. Fromthis it may seem that education achievement is not important for actually performing on jobs, butonly for entry into jobs. And when the labor market is tight there is likely to be upward mobility;but the lesser educated are affected only very slowly. (III) Education and Promotability. He notesthat the relationship is a vague one. And, that promotion could largely be explained by the employ-ee's length of service. (IV) Technological Change and Labor Market Analysis. Here Dr. Bergnotes that USES job analysts must study and understand the details of the labor market as well asjob analysis. And these should be worked into the program designs of vocational education.(V) The "Overeuucated" Workers. In examining the relationship between education and quality Dr.Berg notes that the data do not support the practice of raising educational requirements. (VI)"Workers Expand in Numbers to Fill Available Jobs." Here it is noted that as a labor market be-conies tighter, the demand for labor results in moonlighting and in woman being enticed into thelabor force. The "lesser educated" still do not have a good chance at job entry. (VII) NegroMobility as a "Piece of the Action." Research seems to indicate that Negroes experience opportuni-ties in the economy only when whites have been mobile; that is, when whites have vacated anoccupation.

Comments

Conventional wisdom indicates thateducation is a good thing; that in a democracymore and more peop:e should have the oppor-tunity for more education; and that the moreeducation a person has the better off he is.From the point of view of the humanist, the

conventional wisdom oa education makessense. Education means a better informedsociety; and in a democracy personal financialresources should not be the principal facto:-In allocating educational opportunities; andthe higher attainment one reaches in educa-tion the greater the possible financial re-wards. And even if education does not help

*Dr. Horowitz is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economies, NortheasternUniversity.

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us in appreciating our society and the worldaround us.

In recent years we have become moreaware that what counts most in getting a jobis not so much what we have learned, butwhether we have served sufficient time in aneducational institution to receive a diploma.This certificate apparently gives a potentialemployer the evidence he wants that the appli-cant "has what it takes" to learn the work andto perform successfully on the job. We seethif, attitude daily in our uniNarsities, wheremany students are more concerned with obtain-ing their degree than obtaining an education.This often causes great frustrations to teacherswho are concerned with educating students, butthe industrial system fosters the attitude, Whatcan be done? Perhaps the solution is simplerthan we thought. Could we not issue to all new-born children, along with a birth certificate, aDoctor of Philosophy degree? Thus, everyoneat an early age would have the necessarycredentials to obtain the job he desires. Em-ployers would than be forced to discriminateamong applicants upon some basis of abilityto perform the work. How unique this wouldbe for many employers!

Such a system of granting a doctorateto the new-born would leave the educationsystem for those who are really interested inobtaining a education. No degree, just an edu-cation. This is the kind of experiment aboutwhich I would like to speculate.

At one point in his paper, Dr. Bergindicates that there seems little difference be-tween graduates who pursue the three conven-tional high school programs, in respect to jobexperience, work satisfaction or performance.If this is so, why worry about the content ofvocational education? Apparently, the diplomareceived at the terminal point of the programis the crucial item. But if there is no ration-ale for content why purchase various equip-ment and why employ skilled teachers of voca-tional subjects? And, if "holding" the potentialdropout is the key role of a vocational highschool program would it not cost less just toamuse them into staying on? Or, if we decided

there is a special benefit in their getting adiploma after a specified time in an education-al program, why not pay the potential dropoutto continue attending the program? This maybe a small price for society to pay in order tofind employment for the potential dropout Iam not certain that any single study can shakethe contention that educational content makeslittle or no difference in job performance.However, I am currently involved in a researchproject of how workers acquire their skills,and an evaluation of the various training paths.It is a pilot study in which we are studying tooland die markers in the Boston area. This pro-ject is not yet completed, but partial resultsseem to indicate that those tool and die makerswith a secondary school education are generallyranked higher in ability by their foremen thanthose without a secondary school education. Inaddition, those tool and die makers with a voca-tional high school education seem to rate a littlehigher than those with a general high schooleducation. If these preliminary conclusionsare borne out at the end of the study, it may beevidence that vocational high school educationdoes serve move than just the function of assist-ing a person in obtaining his first job.

It may be noted that in a number of inter-views in this research project on tool and diemakers, foremen have stressed the importanceof a good vocational high school education thathas been focused on the theory and operationof machine shop work. Some foremen seem tofeel that those with a good vocational high schooleducation attain a craftsman-level of perform-ance in tool and die work more quickly thanthose without vocational education.

Dr. Berg makes reference in his paperto his forth coming publication "Education andWork," indicating some of the general findingsof that volume. The GED scales of the U.S.Employment Service were used as the basisfor estimating the manpower requirements byeducational levels. I still have strong reserva-tions on the reliability of estimates of education-al requirements and achievements, based uponthe available USES and census data. However,I will withhold final judgment until I have the

opportunity of examining the methodology Dr.Berg used.

If the statistics Dr. Berg presentsstand up, we are over-educating the malesin the labor force at the luw-level jobs andthe high-level jobs, and we are over- educat-ing the females in the middle jobs and high-level jobs. Here, I cannot stress sufficientlyDr. Berg's point that it becomes more andmore crucial for the job analyst to study andunderstand the labor market as well as jobanalysis; and that these factors must becomepart of the program designs for vocationaleducation. But has there been real communica-tion between the labor market analyst and thevocational education planner? I think not.

A few years ago I completed a study in-volving the GED and other ratings of the USES,looking for the possible effects of automation.The focus of the study was to see, over time,which occupations had been eliminated andwhich, if any, had been newly created. Forboth eliminated and new occupations, we wereinterested in work content and in education,training and other personal requirements.Because I failed to do what Dr. Berg apparent-ly did with the USES data, my approach wasrather narrow. My study was not involvedwith employment or the occupational structure;we examined changes between 1949 and 1965 ineducational requirements of only those occupa-tions for which such data were available. Weselected five industries for study: (1) meat-packing; (2) rubber tires; (3) machine shoptrades; (4) medical services; and (5) banking.It might be of some interest to summarize

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briefly our findings in regard to educationrequirements and training requirements.1 Inmeatpacking the education requirements rosewhile the training requirements declined,although a majority of titles needed very littleof each. In rubber tires there was some in-crease hi education requirements, but a netdrop in training requirements. In the machineshop trades both the education and trainingrequirements rose, but a large number of thenew titles needed less education, on the aver-age than the continuing titles. Medical ser-vices, on balance, showed a rise in educationrequirements, but the education and trainingrequirements of new-titles tended to be lowerthan of the continuing titles. In banking theeducation and training requirements rose,and the training requirements of new tidesalso rose.

Frcm this sample survey of five in-dustries it is impossible to generalize aboutchanges in the education and training require-ments of occupations. Intuitively, however,we feel that too many employers establishfor occupations education and training require-ments that are unnecessarily high. Does everyfactory employee have to have a high schooldiploma? Dr. Berg's statistics show an "over-education, " compared with the education re-quirements. Much more research is warrant-ed in this area, to test the hypothesis thatmore and more workers are being over-educ-ated and over-trained ter the various jobs theyare likely to hold over a life-time in the laborforce.

1Training rev!: ements as measured by the USES ratings, SVP, specific vocationalpreparations, which covers all types of vocational education, including vocational high school.

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The following is a table explaining the various levels of general educational development.

GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Llvel

6

4

3

1

Reasoning De velopment

Apply principles of logical or scientificthinking to a wide range of intellectualand practical problems. Deal with non-verbal symbolism (formulas, scientificequations, grisplis, musical notes, etc.)in its most difficult phases. Deal witha variety of abstract and concrete vari-ables. Apprehend the most abstruseclasses of concepts.

Apply principles of logical or scientificthinking to define problems, collectdata, establish facts, and draw validconclusions. Interpret nu exteusisevariety of technical instructions, inbooks, manuals, and istatheruatital ur diagrammatio form. Deal with severalabstract and concrete variables.

Apply principles of rational systems* tosolve practical problems and deal witha variety of concrete variables in situa-tiots where only limited standard-itailoa exists. Interpret a variety ofinstructions furnished in written, oral,diagrammatic, or schedule form.

Apply common arose understanding to curryout instructions furnished its written,oral, or diagrammatic form. Deal withproblems involving several concrete vari-ables in or from standardized situations.

Apply common sense understanding to carryout detailed but uninvolved written ororal instructions. Deal with problemsinvolving a few concrete variables in ortrotn standardized situation's.

Apply common sense understanding to carryout simple one- or two-step instructions.Deal with standardized situations withoccasional or no variables iii or fromthese situations encountered on the job.

ellytnell. al Development

Apply knowledge of advancedmathematical and statisticaltechniques such as clifieren-tint and integral calculus,factor analysis, and probabil-ity determination, or workwith a wide variety of theo-retical nutthensatical con-cepts and make originalapplications of mathematicalprocedures, as in empiricaland differential equations.

Perform ordinary arithmetic,algebraic, and geometric pro-cedures in standard, practicalapplications.

Make arithmetic calculationsinvolving fractions, decimalsand percentages.

Use arithmetic to add, subtract,multiply, and divide wholenumbers.

Perform simple addition andsubtraction, reading andcopying of tigures, or count-ing and recording.

taneuzre beyelovment

Comprehension and expression of a level toReport, w rite, or edit articles for

such publications as newspapers, maga.eines, and teclioica I or scietit itic jourcUs.Prepare and draw up ciecils, leases, wills,mortgages, and contracts.

Prepare and deliver lectures on poll.tics, economics, education, or science.

Interview, counsel, or adve suchpeople as blIldfIlltS, clients, or` patients,In such matters as welfare eligibility,vocational rehabilitation, mental by$0110, or marital relations.

Kvalutal: WIginening technical data todesign buildings and bridges.

Comprehension and expression of a level toTranscribe dictation, make appoint-

ments for executive and handle his per-sonal mail, interview and screen peoplewifhirz to speak to him, and write rou-tine correspondence on own initiative.

Interview job applicants to determinework heat suited for their abilitiesand experience, and contact employersto interest them in services of agency.

Interpret technical manuals as well udrawings and specifications, suchlayouts, blueprints, and schematics.

Comprehension niol expression of a level toFile, post, and snail such material as

forms, checks, receipts, and bills.Copy (lain from one record to another,

fill is report forms, and type all wortfrom rough draft or corrected copy.Interview members of household to ob-tain such information as age, occupa-tion, and number of children, to beused as data for surveys, or economicstudies.

Guide people on tours through his-torical or public buildings, describ-ing such features as size, value, andpoints of interest.

Comprehension and expression of a level toLearn job duties from oral instructions

or demonstration.Write identifying information, such asname and address of customer, weight,number, or t)pe of product, on tags, orslips.

--Request orally, or in w rit in g such suppliesas linen, seep, or work materials.

Example' of "principles or rational :ems" an: Book keoptng, Internal conitrustion engines, electric %trio/ ss cams, 111:1115e LUnd In g, nursing, farm gamete rce nt, alpgalling.

Specific Vocational Preparation: The amount of time required to learn the techniques, ac-quire information, and develop the facility needed for average performance in a specific job-workersituation. This training may be acquired in a school, work, military, institutional, or a vocationalenvironment. It does not include orientation training required of even every fully qualified workerto become accustomed to the special conditions of any new job. Specific vocational training includestraining given in any of the following circumstances:

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a. Vocational education (such as high school commercial or shop training, technical school,art school, and that part of college training which is organized around a specific vocational objective).

b. Apprentice training (for apprenticeable jobs only);c. In-plant training (given by an employer in the form of organized classroom study);d. On-the-job training (serving as learner or trainee on the job under the instruction of a

qualified worker);c. Essential experience in other jobs (serving in less responsible jobs which lead to the

higher grade job or serving in other jobs which qualify).

GUIIDANCE

Raymond C. Hummel*

VOCATION, EDUCATION, AND GUIDANCE

A View of Guidance

European educators have been sometimes dismayed at the loose organization and seeminginefficiency of the procedures by which American young people are guided into work and into otheradult roles. Administrators in European schools have had considerable authority to prescribewhether a person may continue his education, or enter one career line as against another. Theyare often puzzled that we in America grant immature young people so much control over such im-portant decisions. Impressed by our advances in technology, especially in our techniques forpsychological measurement, they wonder why we do not simply assess each youngster and prescribewhat kinds of training and work would be most suitable for him.

One might answer that our techniquesfor assessing the educational and work poten-tial of a human being either are not yet ornever will be efficient enough to prescribewhat career, in a complex industrial system,he ought to pursue. But this would miss amain premise of guidance in American educa-tion, namely, that no matter how efficientlywe learn to assess human talents, the respon-sibility for choosing how to employ his talentsrests ultimately with each person. This pre-mise is consistent with our democratic valuesfor freedom of choice and equality of oppor-tunity. But it has more to recommend it. Inthe long run, a "non-prescriptive" guidanceis likely to result in more efficient distribu-tion of our manpower and in higher workerproductivity, than are authoritarian methods.People who have been encouraged to plan theirown careers are likely to employ their talentsmore purposefully than persons who are dir-ected to conform to the expectations of others,

no matter how expert.Guidance begins with an individual's

freedom and responsibility to make decisions.The need for guidance becomes critical whena person must choose, with only minimal in-formation and experience, among a greatnumber of vague alternatives. This is thecondition under which most young peoplecurrently decide about their education, theirwork, and their future life in general. Guid-ance is a process in which a qualified personassists another to appraise his personalresources and limitations, to make decisionsappropriate with such appraisal and to assumeresponsibility for acting on his decisions.Guidance is not merely "doing things" for stu-dents, such as informing them about theschool program or processing college applica-tions, or finding them jobs. Its more essentialfunction is developmental and educative.Through guidance, a student is helped not onlyto deal with immediate problems, but to

*Dr. Hummel is Professor of Education, Learning Research and Development Center,University of Pittsburgh.

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understand more deeply who he Is and what hemight become; through guidance, he strengthenshis capacity to make and to act on his own de-cisions; through guidance, he learns to guidehimself.

The guidance counselor offers helpwithout prescription, He provides informationand suggests various courses of action a coun-selee ought to do, preferring to help him toclarify his own values, even when the counselceremains uncomfortably vague and indecisiveabout them. In this respect, the guidancecounselor is different from parents, teachers,and administrators. The latter also provideguidance, to the extent that they assist a stu-dent to define for himself what he wants andhow he might act to achieve it. To accomplishtheir educational aims with a student, however,they will often need to prescribe how he oughtto work and to conduct himself. In doing so,parents, teachers, and administrators in-evitably limit the student's freedom to act athis own choosing. The guidance counselorcomplements their efforts, in part, by help-ing the student to assess the consequences ofacting-one way or another in response to theirstandards.

Guidance, despite the counselor'sefforts to be permissive and understanding,is not necessarily a comforting experience.The guidance counselor often may be the firstadult with whom a student relates who will notjudge or advise or discipline or make a de-cision for him. By bringing a student to con-front the uncertainty and risk of errors whichaccompany all significant life decisions, guid-ance can contribute uniquely to his growthtoward independent, self-responsible adult-hood.

Guidance versus Personnel Functions

To help clarify the meaning of guidanceand the role of the guidance counselor in theeducational process, it might be useful to dis-tinguish between guidance and personnel func-tions.

As suggested above, guidance servesthe student's need to make decisions.

Guidance thus starts not with the counselorbut with the individual's responsibility andefforts to guide himself. Essentially, thecounselor joins the student as collaborator inthese efforts. Guidance is thus, ideally,"self-gehlance. " Personnel actions, however(and instructional decisions by teachers) beginwith the responsibility of the school to teachand to assess the student's behavior in accordwith the rules and standards acceptable tosome common authority. In the guidance pro-cess, the student appraises a situation andchooses and plans what he considers to be themost appropriate actions. A student's electionof a certain course or his decision to apply toa certain school or job, for example, areguidance decisions, Bat the action of admittinga student to a course or to a, school, or employ-ing him, involves personnel decisions.

Personnel decisions are determined bythe purposes and rules of the institution; theyarc comparable with those made by a personneladministrator in industrial or other institutions.Personnel actions, for example, may eitherpermit or prevent a student from taking a cer-tain course, or lead to a referral of a child fordiagnostic testing or remedial help, or areinvolved when a teacher gives a student agrade, or when an administrator or counselorwrites a recommendation to a college admis-sions committee evaluating the student's workand character. Through such personnel actions,the school may meet the best interests of thestudent; but its judgment of what is best is basedon its defined responsibilities to parents, toother institutions, and to the community ingeneral. Guidance serves the community in-directly, through helping each student learnto make, in the most inforned, responsibleway possible, his judgments of what is best todo.

Most school counselors carry out amixture of guidance and personnel functions.Educators disagree whether such mixture isdesirable. A counselor's personnel responsi-bilities may contradict his offer to the studentof a permissive, confidential, nm-judgmentalrelationship. Personnel actions often requirethe practitioner to control and to prescribe a

student's conduct and to report his evaluationsof the student to such agencies as collegeadmissions committees. If the counselor doesthis, he becomes for the student another poss-ible source of rewards and penalties, anotheradult to be "won over." The student may thenbe unable to use the counselor for a candid,realistic study of his own needs and interests.

The Meaning of Vocation and Career

The early vocational guidance literature(The movement officially began about 1908)promoted the search for "one's true vocation.'This focus on individuality was complementedby respect for the "occupational multi-poten-tiality" of each individual. The enormous re-shaping of our occupational structure duringthe past decades, however, has increasinglyeroded the meaning of spiritual calling in theterm vocation. The modern secular versionof serving God Is found currently in theAmerican obsession for self-fulfillment.

We now wonder whether it is possiblefor more than a minor fraction of our laborforce to find in work a sense of vocation oran avenue to self-fulfillment. In fact, asKatz suggests, the alternatives of work eitheras vocation, as occupation, or as a kind ofundifferentiated "employment" may them-selves be deliberately chosen by an individualas part of his career development.

The semantic distinction of interesthere concerns the meanthg of vocation invocational education. The social reformerswho generated both the vocational guidanceand vocational education movements probablyshared the nineteenth-century view of voca-tion as a calling and as a means to self-fulfill-ment. But vocation in vocational educationseems to have been more narrowly defined interms of trades. The Smith-Hughes Act, asCremin (1965) notes, officially confirmed thiscraft-orientation. Recent changes in man-power policy, particularly the VocationalEducation Act of 1963, have tended to loosenthe definition to include the wide range ofoccupations requiring skills obtainable at lessthan college-degree level. Teacht, .3 in

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vocational education, however, are likely tocontinue to define vocation in terms of thestandards and qualifications of specific occupa-tions.

The Vocational Guidance Association isnow seriously trying to "reconceptualize" itsmission and content of its work. It has tendedin recent years to orient itself more broadlyto the notion of career and to orient its ser-vices to career development. Everett Hughessuggests an appropriate meaning:

. . . Career, in the mostgeneric sense, refers to the fateof a man running his life cycle ina particular society at a particulartime . . . . The , reer includesnot only the processes and sequencesof learning the techniques of theoccupation but also the progressiveperception of the whole system andof one's relation to it.

Such an orientation involves vocationalguidance with a range of choice situationswhich extend far beyond those directly associ-ated with work. Work will continue to be oneof the major settings in which an individualidentifies himself and comes to terms with hissociety. But the work orientation and trainingprovided by a vocational educational curricu-lum is only one aspect of the career develop-ment process with which guidance is conceied.

Occupational Matching versus Career Develop-ment

Vocational guidance was born in thesame era that spawned psychological testing.It was not long before vocational guidance,unfortunately, became construed as almostsynonymous with measuring and profiling andmatching of psychological characteristics withoccupational demands. Counselor prescrip-tions in such "test 'em and telt 'em" vocation-al counseling often ludicrously violated com-mon sense. Such procedures often ignoredthe wide error variance in the tests, the

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uncertainties in describing and classifyingoccupations, and the multitude of contigencieswhich might influence the career potentials ofany one individual.

In part, the career development strategyin guidance is an antidote to a simple pseudo-scientific distortion of prediction in psycho-logical measurement. As suggested in thefirst section, however, even if the errors inprediction were only modest, occupationalchoice and career development are ultimatelymatters of individual adaptation, nor priorjudgment and prescription. Psychologicalmeasurement and prediction, however, can beimportant tools in guidance. The computermeasurement model proposed by Cooley anddeveloped by Cooley and Lohnes is a mostpromising application of a prediction strategy.Cooley and Lohnes have computed probabilities,using follow-up data, of persons with certainProject Talent test profiles being in certaincareer lines at a time one to five years later.An individual can be told the likelihood of histest profile resembling the profiles of individu-als who at a later period are pursuing certaincareer lines. Interpreted properly, the pro-babilities are seen by the individual as simplya clearer definition of risks associated withvarious courses of action. He is still freeto choose, if he wishes to make the risk, a lowprobability career path.

Career Guidance versus Manpower Develop-ment

The distinction here is analogous tothat between personnel and guidance functions.At some level of abstraction, the goals of man-power development are similar to those ofcareer guidance. At the level of contact be-tween the counselor and his client, however,the counselor's efforts to serve the interestsof manpower development might frequently --or even inevitably -- contradict his guidancerole. Government agencies, industry, pro-fessional societies, and other special interestgroups have attempted to make the guidancecounselor their ally in improving the supplyof trained manpower in certain fields.

The National Defense Education Act,for example, initially provided support to in-crease the ratio of talented youngsters whowent to college and who would major in scienceand technology. In its early support and train-ing of school counselors, the NDEA specifiedthat these counselors were being trained toimprove the selection and motivation of talent-ed youth. When Michael Harrington discoveredpoverty in 1962 and when we validated the needfor midd' --level technical manpower in theVocational Education Act of 1963, other specialroles for counselors in the manpower develop-ment area were defined. Public policy in sup-port of counselor education has only graduallycome to support the training of practioners towork with "all the people" for all the occupa-tions.

My analogy may be vague but I shallpursue it anyway. Ideally, each individualshould have equal access to valid informationabout the widest possible range of career lines.The counselor is responsible to help the in-dividual achieve access to valid infori.ation,understand relevant facts, and to examine theimplications of the facts for their own careerdevelopment. To the degree that counselorswould promote information about certaincareer lines as against others -- others whichmight be equally suitable fur an individual --they would inevitably contradict their effortto maximize the individual's freedom of in-formation and choice.

Ironically, much of the support forguidance in government, industry, and pro-fessional societies is directed to the counseloras a presumed "social engineer." But thestrategy of social engineering is in contradic-tion to the theory of guidance counselingadumbrated in earlier sections. It presumesthat someone in our society has the knowledgeand virtue to decide which occupations aremore important than others. Economists canrefer to criteria of efficiency; and legislatorshave the power to decide which priorities tosupport. If the counselor acts as their agentto promote priorities, however, he inevitablycompromises his contract of permissivecollaboration with the counselee. Suppose

counselors, to caricature a social engineeringstrategy, decide that in this age of affluencewe need ski instructors and croupiers morethan we need physicians and technicians. Whatvalue norms, other than their professionalcommitment to permissive exploration andfree choice, would they contradict in recruitingindividuals to these occupations? As a con-sequence of inadequate training and role con-fusion among counselors much bootlegging ofprejudiced educational and occupational infor-mation is carried on in American schools.The bootlegging has especially favored collegeaspirations and downgraded vocational-techni-cal education. The only request that counse-lors can legitimately honor is to give vocation-al-technical education equal rights with otheralternatives.

Guidance as a Co-Curriculum in VocationalEducation

Guidance is ineffective in a vacuum.It can only complement other efforts to informstudents about the world and about themselves.In part, the inadequate vocational guidanceschools afford students iF related to the lackof facilities and programs iir occupationalexploration and for the development of suit-able occupational skills while in high school.This inadequacy is felt particularly by thosestudents who will not go on to a four-yearcollege. We cannot even be confident that thechoices by typically fifty percent of our highschool graduates to enter college are reasonedand informed. The evidence of college drop-out and of alienation among some of our ablestcollege students raises doubts about the ef-fectiveness of their instrmtion and guidanceduring the school years.

College affords students a moratorium;they can postpone significant choices. Theyouth who do not attend our-year colleges,however, need a wide occupational array ofexploration and training opportunities duringhigh school. Regrettably there is no time toexemplify some of the arrangements for in-dustrial arts and vocational and technicalcourses which might be programmed from

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K-12. From a guidance point of view, andfrom evidence that only a minority of highschool graduates who have pursued vocationaleducation programs actually enter jobs intheir specific field, the critical contributionof vocational education is seen to provide ex-posure, exploration, tryout and the experienceof learning some valued skills and of produc-ing a finished product. All we know of voca-tional development and their readiness fordecision-making as well as of the changingjob opportunities, militate against the tradi-tional training for an immediately salable skillin a specific trade.

Attached is a brief outline of the "CIGS"program we have been trying out in the Learn-ing Research and Development Center. Wehave already completed the pilot efforts withsamples of students in a suburban communityand a semi-rural community. We are current-ly in the middle of a tryout in a large, allNegro ghetto high school. The program is in-tended to be a co-curriculum to complementthe general education and OVT curricula.

The students, at least, have been mostenthusiastic about the program. We are notcertain yet what effects we will have on theirlong-term orientation to school and work.But we are convinced that for students in allthree kinds of schools, but especially for thenon-college bot'.td who cannot afford a mora-torium on decision-making, the regularcurriculum is hopelessly inadequate. TheCIGS program is not a substitute for an ade-quate curriculum; but even an adequate courseof instruction will be insufficient unless itgives students a chance to clarify the alter-natives among which they must either choose orrenege as they progress through secondaryschool.

In the current program in the all-Negroschool we are painfully aware of the inade-quacy of a prog:am which helps to clarifyvalues and may raise aspirations and yetignore their awful deficiencies in the basicsubject areas. The students realize that dis-cussion of serious occupational objectives isartificial if they lack the ability to read andcompute effectively. The traditional high

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school has been unable to help them "catchup." The teachers are often as resigned asthe students; where they are interested thoylack the materials to do remedial elementaryschool work with their students. Perhapsmore basic, they lack the materials to diag-nose and correct the problems which differsomewhat for each individual student.

Another of our projects in the Learn-ing Research and Development Center is toapply an Individually Prescribed InstructionProgram in mathematics and reading to slowlearners in the junior high school. We will bemoving to the senior high school in a year ortwo. The IPI provides a school with diagnos-tic instruments, self-teaching work-sheets,and student evaluation materials to work onthose particular areas where he needs in-struction. It uses carefully devised place-ment tests to help identify these areas. Thestudent then works at his own pace until theskill in each unit has reached a certain levelof mastery as shown on the post-test. Wehope gradually to try to develop some correla-tion between the CMS program, the regularcurriculum, and skills development in mathand reading as necessary. It has been evidentthat even in this high school with a well-develop-ed OVT curriculum, a great number of studentscannot profit because of deficiencies in the

fundamental skills of reading and arithmetic.

Summary

I must forego a summary; there isstill more to be added to and much to beedited from these notes. Essentially, guid-ance is construed as a developmental processwhich complements both the general educationand vocational education curricula.

Guidance is distinct in its princip'e ofpermissive, non-prescriptive collaboration.Guidance will have little consequence for moststudents if they fail to find the curriculum tobe currently rewarding and a meaningful pre-lude to adult living. Occupational and voca-tional education are necessary aspects of ameaningful curriculum for most students.But this will need to be supplemented for somestudents by specific remediation in skill sub-jects. The key problem is coordination andcomplementation, with guidance as importantas any other element. This brings us to aproblem with which we might well have started.That is the problem of innovating complexprograms in institutions that seem to prefersimplicity, familiarity, and order. Guidanceand vocational education are hotn interestingcases of the larger problem of institutionalchange in education.

William C. Kvaraceus*

REACTION

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Accepting the major premise that "through guidance he (the student) learns to guide himself, "we must dsk: "What freedom and responsibility to make decisions is to be found in most vocational-technical schools in Massachusetts? If most of these schools tell a student what to do, when to do it,how to do it, and whether it is done "right" -- thus limiting freedom to act at his own choosing --"guidance for self - guidance" will not take place in spite of the existence of one or two counselors onthe school staff. Vocational-technical schools, and any other schools for that matter, must be £0planned and managed as to allow sufficient freedom and opportunity for decision making thus provi lingthe right climate for guidance. This kind of learning environment cannot be taken for panted. Thekind of guidance process that is described in this paper would have a hard time enduring the externalcontrols and authoritative decision-making characteristics of most school systems in the Common-wealth.

The report skirts the. -najor question:Who or what is a guidance worker? To say that"Guidance is a process in which a qualifiedperson assists another, etc . . ." is not toanswer the question. We need to be told whatmakes a guidance worker qualified. There aremany counselors on the job in many vocationalschools. What makes one counselor morequalified than another? Whom do we hire in theline of applicants seeking positions in the voca-tional schools? Where do we go for applicants?Counselors can be procured from psychologydepartments, education departments, andschools of social work, We need criteria to beable to spot a qualified counselor and to be ableto tell a "good one" from a "poor one." Class-room teachers who manage to get credits in theguidance field, who meet state requirements,and who are hired to serve as counselors invocational-technical schools now occupy thesefasts. We have no way of knowing whetherthey are really qualified to do the job as

envisioned in this paper.Most guidance workers fall into the trap

of the omnibus worker. They readily take onany old task handed to them. They become theschool waste basket. In the formal work struc-ture of the vocational school we need to have ajob description that :,pelts out the unique roleand function of guidance personnel. Too oftenthe nature of the job accommodates to the ex-istence of other personnel such as vice-principal,clinical psychologist, psychometrist, socialworker, visiting teacher, and adjustmentcounselor. What the counselor does or does notdo is often more a response to who else is a-round rather than to any specification of theunique role and function of the position to befilled. We need to clarify further the training,background, traits, and skills that make aperson "qualified" for this role in a vocational-technical school. It must be recognized thatthe requirements in this type of school maydiffer from those in a comprehensive or general

*Dr. Kvaraceus is Professor of Education and Director of Youth Studies at Tufts University.

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high school.The distinction that is pressed between

"personnel actions" and "guidance" is takenwell psychologically but this remains only anacademic distinction. On-the-job demandswill force the guidance worker to step over theline frequently. It is doubtful whether thecounselor could maintain himself long in avocational school playing out the neutral role.It is essential, however, that the counselorplay out the advocacy role in behalf of the stu-dent. Who else will stand as friend in court forthe student when he is In difficulty because oflong hair, vandalism, cheating, disturbing theclassroom peace, or use of pot?

The issue of vocation and careers by-passes the importance of the ethos or ethic ofwork. Vocational guidance does not comethrough strong enough in the Freudian senseof th. good life, "love and work, " nor even inthe Soviet tradition of the dignity and moralityof labor. These should be among the majorobjectives of vocational guidance.

The points on occupational matchingvs career development are taken well, but theydo not take us far enough in resolving thepressures of reality on the vocational educa-tion staff who must accommodate to the chang-ing job market and who must continue to definevocation in Job placement terms involvingstandards and qualifications of specific Jobsin an efficiency-minded and a profit-orientedIndustrial society. How much of this dilemmacan be resolved by working closer within thecommercial and industrial system remains acurriculum problem. Perhaps vocational andtechnical education in a place called s0'oolset apart from the industrial establishment isnow an impractical arrangement. The im-plications for vocational guidance are obvious.

The author cogently suggests that workorientation and training are but one aspect ofthe career development process with whichguidance is concerned. If we consider whypersons leave or lose their jobs and whatpsychological and social satisfactions canaccrue through work effort the importance ofthis observation needs to be underscored. Weneed to press the point that vocational guidance

Is not "a separate and distinct kind of guidance"but rather a phase of a many faceted operationthat includes health, social, emotional, andintellectual aspects. There is always thedanger that the vocational and technical schoolswill settle for something called vocationalguidance. Like any other school, perhapseven more than any other school, the voca-tional-technical schools need to maintain andsafeguard a comprehensive guidance program.

In facing the college-aspiration and down-grading of vocational-technical education, somuch in evidence in school and society, theusual guidance trick is to welch on the side ofneutrality and "freedom to make decision."But very few people are liberated enough fromtheir personal-social environment to be ableto consider alternatives and to make choices.We need to define freedom. The freedom ofthe disadvantaged child in the inner city or ir.the rural slums is akin to solitary confine-ment. The passive, neutral, and nonjudg-mental counselor may need to intervene moreactively -- if not aggressively -- lest theseyoungsters foreclose on themselves by settinga low ceiling on their career aspiration. Moreand more the counselor may need to work toinsure that able youngsters whose frustration,defeat, apathy, and hopelessness may soparalyze them as to limit their freedom ofchoice. It may take a lot of convincing toIn: Lire the oppressed that certain jobs andvocations can be achieved. The ethics andmorality of letting these youngsters make nodecision or the wrong decision need to befaced. Furthermore, the lower-class young-sters may not accommodate to the mOdle-class style of decision making as played outby middle-class counselors. This is a debat-able Issue but one which no longer can beavoided in the current school and streetcrisis.

The counselor's dependency on adequatecurriculum is obvious. If "the regularcurriculum is hopelessly inidequate," as theauthor suggests, guidance personnel will notbe able to do much more than help the young-ster to make the best of a bad situation.Staying happy in an unhappy school situation

can neither be the aim nor the compromise ofguidance. Some of the efforts of knowledge-able counselors should be directed to Improv-ing the curriculum. Gounse?ors more thananyone else know the "soft spots" in the pro-gram but their knowledge is seldom tapped toremedy the school situation. Usually theguidance personnel play it close to their vests.The accumulation of their insights gainedthrough helping all children should be sharedwith all school staff wit' out Jeopardizingi.ndividual confidences. Until and unless thecurriculum problem is solved, the goals ofguidance will hardly be achieved. As theauthor intimates, guiding Is not always a com-forting experience; under these circumstanceshe could have said it is a downright frustratingcxpe rience.

With few counselors and many studentsto be counseled, some with severe problems,implicit in the one-to-one guidance program Isa limiting and perhaps unrealistic assumption.This route will only continue to serve a smallnumber of students. More attention needs tobe given to various forms of group guidanceand to working with students through theirteachers by means of "classroom or shopgu:dance." Hopefully by working with groupsand through teachers, the outnumberedpersonnel workers may meet the needs of agreater number of students.

In guiding youngsters with special orsevere problems and in aiming and helpingthe student "to know himself" we must facethe issue of task and time more squarely.The notion of helping youngsters to understandthemselves -- a couch or a life task at least-- or to solve what are often long-term, deep,and complex personal-social problems via ashort series of weekly sessions borders onprofessional romanticism if not magic. Many

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counselors today and perhaps the whole pro-fession, suffer from an overly-slick profession-alism which is reflected somewhat in the paper.There are some cases that obviously will falloutside the competencies of individual coun-selors. It is not clear how the counselorrecognizes these cases n,frr what he can do aboutthem. On the other hand, we do know that manyyoungsters with problems can be helped by un-trained persons working on the "helper princi-ple." Looking on the resources of the vocation-al-technical school, particularly the teachingstaff and the older students and apprentices, weshould not overlook this rich source of guidancein the classroom. Operating on the helperprinciple, so well demonstrated by The AA andits many facsimilies and more recently by theuse of indigenous workers in the inner-cityprograms, much can be accomplished to guidemore youngsters by "lay counselors" under thesupervision of the trained counselor. Guidancepersonnel might profitably direct more of theireffort toward teaching staff and older studentsto enable them to guide others in their daily andintimate contacts in the classroom. Guidancepeople have clearly demonstrated the limitsof their reach.

In conclusion we must recognize thattheir is little likelihood that current ratios ofstudents to counselor will not be appreciablereduced. Yet it is significant that addinganother counselor or two was one of the stepsmost frequently taken by schools under TitlesIt and ill of the Elementary and Secondaryeducation Act. that these programs (andthis paper) do not do is ask the question: Whydid we need one in the first place? Answersto this question may bring us closer to theantecedents of the guidance problems that be-set every vocational-technical school in theCommonwealth of Massachusetts.

CURRICULUM

Benjamin Shimberg

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: IS IT MORE THAN EDUCATION FOR A VOCATION?

To borrow a phrase from Dickens, we might say that for vocational education, this is the"be3t of times and the worst of times."

Never before have so many people in every segment of our society agreed so fully on theneed to strengthen and improve vocational education. A high note was sounded in 1963 by PresidentKennedy's blue ribbon panel of conssIltants when it called for a massive upgrading of Vocational Edu-cation. Even before that report was published, Congress had begun drafting the Vocational Educa-tion Act of 1963, pouring something in the order of $175,000,000 into the arteries of the vocationaleducation system. This massive infusion was only the beginning; states were stimulated It increasetheir own contributions -- so that the total expenditures for vocational education reached unprece-dented heights.

NOT EVERYONE GOES TO COLLEGE

Although most Americans had dimlyealized that not everyone goes to college, the

Report of the President's Panel (14), headedby Ben Willis, Superintendent of the ChicagoPublio Schools, dramatized the disparity be-tween the dream and the reality. The reportnoted that out of every ten students who enterthe ninth grade, only seven will finish highschool; of those who do finish high school . .

only four will enter a four year college; andof these, only two will complete the four yearprogram and receive a bachelor's degree.

Educators, businessmen, goveinmentlladers, manpower specialists, and unionofficials have been increasingly concernedwith the needs of the eight out of ten young-Stets who do not go on to 'The Waron Poverty has also underncored the need

for Improved vocational programs. As mil-lions of dollars have been poured into theJob Corps, MDTA, National Youth Corps, andsimilar programs, many thoughtful Americanshave realized that these vastly expensive ef-forts were the price of neglect. Thu boys andgirls in Job Corp Centers and at MDTA SkillsCenters were the products of schools whichhad neglected not only their vocational develop-ment, but (even worse) had failed to providethem with the basic skills 'm which sus iequentoccupational training could be based.

This great awakening -- this unprece-dented display of support -- should have beenan exhilarating experience for vocational edu-cators. After decades of second class citi-zenship, after years of suffering the indignitiesof being regarded as a dumping ground faracademic misfits and youngsters with behaviorproblems, vocational education had gained

*Dr. ShImberg is Director, Vocational-Technical k a, "club Projects, EducationalTesting Service, Princeton, New Jersey.

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recognition as a vital part of American edu-cation and of our technological society.

TRADITIONAL GOALS AND VALUESQUESTIONED

But alas, this new era of relativeaffluence proved to be no Eden. Even in the'best of times" there was dissension and dis-cord. Questions were raised regarding thetraditional goals, values, structure, andpractices of vocational education; Could thecraft-oriented approach, devised a half cen-tury ago, meet the needs of the sixties andseventies? Why had vocational educationF3rseverated in its support of agriculturalprograms in the face of the growing demandfor training in technology and the serviceoccupations? Was secondary school theappropriate place for vocational education?Should emphasis in high school be placed onbasic education and occupational exploration?Should the separate vocational school beabolished in favor of the comprehenal-ve highschool? Were the experience requirementsfor vocational teachers too restrictive?

As these and other differences wereaired, it became evident that anyone chargedwith responsibility for planning a curriculumor creating facilities for vocational education,would have to resolve a host of philosophicalas well as practical questions before he coulddesign a program to meet the needs of theyoung people who would be moving throughour schools during decades to come.

PLANNING FOR A SOCIETY IN FLUX

Planning and decision-making werefurther complicated by our need to makeassumptions about the kind of world in whichwe would be living. In our time we haveseen phenomenal changes take place. If any-thing, the pace of change has been accelerated.During the greater part of our history, amajority of Americans lived In rural areas.Today we are a predordnately urban society.At one time we had a frontier where thosewho didn't like schools, or city life, or the

restraints of society, could repair to carveout a new life. Until quite recently, our in-dustries had jobs for the unskilled. The drop-outs and push-outs of our educational systemhad little difficulty finding work. Since WorldWar II that situation has changed drastically.The demand for unskilled labor has droppedprecipitously, giving rise to a crisis whichwe arc just now beginning to face.

In all likelihood we could have copedwith that crisis, had not the situation beengreatly aggravated by the cybernetic revolu-tion. The computer started out as a gadgetthat could count with incredible speed; so weused it to do the work of clerks. Then itacquired a memory. We hooked it up to ma-chines capable of making fine sensory dis-criminations and found that we could operateassembly lines with fewer people -- or nopeople at all. Machines .1ould be programmedto turn out engine blocks and machine toolsuntouched by human hands. Skilled craft- -man -- such as journeyman machinists --found that computer linked machine toolscould wipe out their jobs overnight. Evenmiddle management people disccvered, totheir dismay, that anything they could do, themachine could (often) do better.

Manpower forecasts hold little hopefor the unskilled or the uneducated. Duringthe decade of the Ws, the demand for labor-ers and for semi-skilled operatives is ex-pected to decline relative to the total laborforce. The fastest growing occupationalgroup will be the professional, technical, andkindred workers -- as it has been sinceWorld War H. Service workers (such aspolicemen, beauticians, and hospital person-nel) will show above average growth, as willclerical workers -- despite the increases inautomation. The demand for craftsmen,sales workers and managerial personnelwill remain roughly at their present relativelevels.

SIX OR SEVEN JOB CHANGES

Are educational planners fully awareof the implications of these forces? What

are they doing to prepare young people tocope with the profound changes they arc cer-tain to encounter during their lifetime? Whatis their response to Manpower AdministratorStanley Ruttenberg's prediction that the aver-age 20 year old man in the work force todaycan be expected to change jobs six or seventimes during his remaining working life (12).Dr. Ruttenberg has stated that ". . . it isno longer enough to train a young person fora specific job. We must provide him with asound general education which will equip himto cope with change and enable him to acquirenew skills as often as may be necessary."

It is within this framework that cur-riculum planning must take place. However,we cannot indulge in the luxury of ignoringthe present, while we prepare a grandioseblueprint for the future. We must considerwhere we are now and what short run changesare needed to equip our young people to copewith the world in which they will live. Butanything we attempt as a short run solution,should not detract from the infinitely moredifficult and more basic task of designingnew programs which will transform ourschools into institutions capable of preparingboys and girls to live in a complex technologi-cal society. And while we are at it, we shouldnot lose sight of the fact that technology willbring with it more leisure for n ore peoplethat we have ever known before. Educationmust prepare young people to use this leisurewisely and creatively. In many ways this maybe a greater challenge than preparing youthto cope with technological change.

to considering the design of a sole:3program of vocational education, we need tothink about at least three interrelated pro-blems:

1. How can we make sure that everystudent receives the basic education necessaryfor occupational preparation?

2. How can we provide each youngsterwith the information and experiences that heneeds in order to make intelligent decisionsabout his life's work?

3. How can we provide occupationaleducation that is appropriate to the needs,

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interests, and abilities of young people sothat they can enter gainful employment, pro-gress on the job, and cope with changingtechnology effectively?

Since these problems are so closelyrelated, it is impossible to deal with themseparately. Yet, it may be helpful we atleast try to look at them one at a lime. Thefirst question asked: "How can we make surethat every student receives the basic educa-tion nc-ceasary for occupational preparation?"

For many years the obvious answerseemed to be "Keep him in school." Unfor-tunately, there is mounting evidence thatmerely attending school does not guaranteethat learning will take place. A commoncomplaint of educators in area vocationalschools, community colleges, Job Corp cen-ters, and MDTA Programs is than an alar.n-ingly high percentage of students lack thebasic skills needed to undertake occupationaltraining. Most of the students have been inschool for ten years or more, but seem tohave learned little. This has given rise tomany questions about the effectiveness ofour educational system, especially for stu-dents who are not academically inclined.

There is growing awareness of theneed for a greater flexibility in education toaccommodate students with different learningstyles. Some students seem to have theability to learn material presented abstract-ly -- in the form of words and symbols.These are the youngsters who show up wellon scholastic aptitude tests and who generallyget good grades in school. There are otheryoungsters who do poorly on such tests andwho tend to have difficulty dealing with ab-stractions. This latter group often findsschool an ordeal, since they lack the qualitieswhich make for academic success. One canhardly blame these students for wanting toleave school. They learn from experiencethat each day in school is likely to exposethem to new failures and fresh humiliation.Professor E. 13. Skinner, a psychol.'gist atHarvard, characterized such students as"tune 'luta." He has observed that after awhile they merely go through the motions of

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learning; they stop listening, and make littleor no effort to achieve.

AN EXPERIENCE-CENTERED CURRICULUM

While many educators have advocatedan experience-centered curriculum, fewschools have implemented this concept in aneffective manner. One such effort that hasattracted wide attention is the Pre-TechnologyProgram, which was originated in Richmond,California and which has since been adoptedin other areas. The core of the program Isa shop-lalx,ratory in which high school stu-dents are gi (en an opportunity to work ontechnological problems similar to those en-countered in industry. The projects arecarefully selected by a team of teachers,which Includes -- in addition to the technologyinstructor -- a science teacher, a mathe-matics teacher, an English teacher, and aguidance counselor. In order for the studentto complete the technology project, he mustusually acquire new scientific understandingsor relate previously learned principles innew ways. These may require him to masterrelevant mathematical concepts or to developcertain computational skills. The preparationof oral and written reports related to theprojects serve to enhance his communicationskills. In short, the student learns thatacademic subjects are not as useless as theymay have seemed. Moreover, he begins toglimpse the interrelatedness of knowledgeand the value of theory as an aid to problemsolving.

This core-curriculum, team-teachingapproach is not really new. Its successseems to hinge on the fact that the problemsbeing used are sufficiently challenging tocapture the interest of students who haveheretofore been unmotivated with respect toschool achievement. The boys who partici-pated in the development phase of the Rich-mond Project are supposed to have beenstudents of above average ability who werefailing two or more academic subjects. Mostof them had been tagged as 'behavior pro-blems."

According to reports emanting fromthe Richmond Program, these students re-sponded enthusiastically to the new curricu-lum. Attitudes changed dramatically. Asacademic subjects acquired relevance, a-chievement improved. Most of the studentsnot only finished high school, but mr.ly wenton to the technical program at the junior col-lege. Some of those who did not go on to col-ledge, sought employment in industries whichwould provide them with an opportunity togain further training in technology.

A companion program for high schoolstudents of somewhat lower ability h4s beenunderway for several years in the San Francis-co Bay area. Known as FEAST (Foods Edu-cation and Service Training), this programutilizes problems and projects related to thefood and restaurant industry as a vehicle formaking academic subjects more meaningful.It too has had considerable success in chang-ing attitude and improving academic achieve-ment. Many of the youngsters later seekemployment in the hotel and food service in-dustry; some go on to post secondary educa-tion to prepare for careers in man *gement.

Netter of these projects claims to beproviding vocational education in the senseof preparing students for entry jobs. Thevocational content is merely the vehiclethrough which basic education Is facilitated.In the process, of course, an individual doeslearn about his abilities and interests. Thesuccess experiences may also help him toform a more positive self-concept. He ac-quires information about careers and postsecondary educational opportunities he mightnever have heard about otherwise.

The Pre-Technology Project andProject FEAST serve as graphic demonstra-tions that many of the students who are un-esponsive to traditional educatio.i, can be

"turned on" by an experience-centered cur-riculum. Professor Ned Frank of k!.. andDrs. Bushnell and Morgan of the U.S. Officeof Education in separate proposals have calledfor a major overhaul of the present education-al structure. They recognise that studentsdiffer In their learning styles, and that

sufficient flexibility must be provided in thecurriculum to permit all students to have ex-periences that not only enhance their learning,but also further their vocational development.It wilt require a msleive effort on the part ofthe educational community to bring about thefar-reaching changes that have been proposed.Unfortunately their very scope and magnitudemay discourage serictts efforts at implementa-tion.

COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION

A major effort is underway to providemore individualized instruction to studentswith the aid of computers. Dr. John Flanaganrecently described one such project in an arti-cle entitled "Functional Education for theSeventies" (4). The project known as CREATEis a joint undertaking of the American Institutefor Research in the Behavioral Sciences and theWestinghouse Learning Corporation. TheQuincy, Nfassachusnits schools are one of thefourteen school systems participating.

The AIR-Westinghouse approach at-temps to tailor instruction of elementary andsecondary school children to the needs ofeach individual. The system makes use ofspecially designed learning activities to whichthe student has access via computer. Alsostored in the computer is detailed informationon each child, including his special aptitudes,patterns of learning, interests and background.In addition, a record is kept of the skills andknowledge he has acquired prior to reachingany given decision point.

When a student, with the help of histeacher, has decided on a learning objective,the computer determines which of the various"Teaching-learning units" stored to its mem-ory is best suited to the learning style of thisparticular student. The teaching-learningunits are indexe4 in terms of what a studentis expected to learn, what the prerequisitesare, and for what type of student and situr.donWs unit is especially well suited.

One of the key features of the system,according to Flanagan, is the continuousmonitoring of progress. In describing the

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type of teats that will be used, Flanaganstates that "The system is based on the'success principle'. It is intended that eachstudent be assigned only objectives which hecan achieoe at his present stage of develop-ment or learning in each field and that he beassisted in selecting from the different typesof teaching-learning units one which is wellsuited to his learning style so as to enablehim to attain the objective within the prescrib-ed period of time. Failure on a unit testrepresents a bi Jakdown in the system andwill be the source of immediate investigationto remedy the observed deficiency."

It is too early to tell how successfulDr. Flanagan and his associates will be inindividualizing instruction with the help ofcomputers. However, there can be no doubtthat this is but one of many serious effortsnow underway to introduce changes in our edu-cational system. Those of us who are con-cerned with quality vocational education needto follow all these efforts closely and to sup-port those which seem to hold special pro-mise. It is my conviction that anything thatwill make the general learning environmentmore favorable to the occupationally-orientedstudent, will be of direct benefit to vocationaleducation. Indeed, it has been suggested thatfor most students specific vocational educa-tion should be deferred as long as possible Inorder to prr vide each student with as muchpreparation in the basic tool subjects as hecan assimilate. This foundation will servehim well not only during his initial vocationalprogram, but in subsequent years, when hewill need to renew himself in order to keepabreast of technological change.

HELP IN Dr ctsloN MAKING

Although we have stressed the im-portance of basic education, we have alsorecognized that such education, by itself,will not provide the competencies requiredfor career planning. This has prompted usto ask, 'How can we provide each youngsterwith the information and experiences he needsin order to make intelligent decisions about

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his life's work?"Leaders in guidance are beginning to

realize that if a student is to make meaningfuleducational or vocational plans, the ground-work needs to be laid long before he reachesany one of several decision points. Until re-cently, most guidance activity has been center-ed in the senior high school because that waswhere students made obvious decisions aboutgoing to college or taking a job. Then, as thesignificance of earlier decisions was perceiv-ed, guidance activity at the junior high schoollevel was strengthened. Counselors in manyschools are now striving to help eighth andninth graders to become actively involved inthe decision-making process. They are seek-ing to give students a better understanding oftheir abilities, interests, and values; to in-form them about educational and vocationalopportunities that lie ahead and to point outhow decisions made at one choice point caninfluence the decisions at subsequent points.

A pioneering effort in this respect wasthe work of Dr. Martin Katz who sought toimplement career development theory througha group guidance process utilizing a work-textcalled You:.Today and Tomorrow. Some ofDr. Katz's ideas have been adopted and expand-ed by the Palo Alto (California) schools wherejunior high youngsters now receive consider-able help in understanding how their testscores and school grades are related to suc-cess in different types of educational programsand in various jobs.

The Palo Alto schools are also ex-perimenting with the idea of "miniaturizedwork experiences" to bridge the gap betweenthe more obvious jobs and jobs where the pro-duct or service may be less tangible. To givea youngster some idea of what an accountantdoes, the miniaturized experience presentshim with a problem: a businessman suspectsthat an employee may be embezzling funds.Various ledgers are reproduced in a booklet,along with a packet of invoices, receipts,checks, vouchers, etc. The student is givendirections on how to proceed and what to lookfor. Before he is through he has a muchbetter concept of accounting than any amount

of verbalization could have provided; he hasactually experienced, in a small way, themental as well as the physical processes ofthis occupation.

INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONS

There are a number of states whichare seeking to stimulate vocational develop-ment through innovative programs at thejunior high level. In New Jersey such a pro-gram is called "Introduction to Vocations."The aim of the program is to create job-awareness rather than skills. Each participat-ing school has a group of local business menserving on its advisory committee. They areable to open doors for field trips that wouldnormall:, be closed to students.

The program is arranged in cycles ofabout O'rec weeks duration to include workskills in wood shop, metal shop, graphics,mechanical drawing, auto and power mechanics,foods, clothing, laboratory techniques, busi-ness education, and health services. Classwork Is supplemented by speakers from relat-ed work areas: field trips to business and in-dustry, hospitals and service agencies; and a"puppy dog program." Under the 'puppy dogprogram", a student is given an opportunity tofollow some worker around for a day to seeexactly what that person does. The programwas started in 1965 with thirteen participatingschools. This year there are fifty-six.

In the New York City schools, an ex-perimental program is underway for selectedninth and tenth graders who are enrolled inthe General Curriculum. Each year's work isbroken into three broad areas -- business,health, and industrial technology. Studentsare cycled through each area twice, they arethen encouraged to concentrate in one of theseareas during their last two years in order toget specific vocational preparation, or to laythe ground work for further education afterhigh school. As in the Richmond Plan andProject FEAST, the curriculum seeks to re-late English, mathematics and science to eachof the three areas, so that the needs of basiceducation and vocational exploration are being

served simultaneously.While these and similar efforts are in-

dicative of a growing awareness of the need toprovide experiences to enhance vocational de-velopment, there are some educators whomaintain that by the time a youngster reachesjunior high it is already too late to do muchabout the work attitudes and perceptions ofself which are formed in the elementary grades.

VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Dr. Edward Roeber (11) has recentlyobserved that ". . . the elementary schoolyears pr-vide the critical beginnings in theformation of generalizations about self andenvironment." He maintains that if the". . . elementary school environment is lack-ing in exposures to people, ideas, and thingsassociated with industrial, business, service,and related processes elementary childrenmight conceivably develop negative generaliza-tions about those kind of human activities whenthey reach secondary school." He believeswhen high school counselors are accused ofusing vocational schools as a 'dumping ground"for poor students, they are being made thescapegoat for years of sterility in the students'environment and for the neglect of their voca-tional development.

"Some vocational educators," saysDr. Roeber, "would like to believe that thecounselor has the magic necessary to converta student who dislikes activities associatedwith business and industry into a student whoprefers vocational courses." He suggests thatneither counselors nor anyone else is likelyto have much success in modifying these at-titudes in adolescence if contrary attitudeshave become solidified in earlier years.

In years past there have been effortsto introduce units about the "world of work" intothe social studies curriculum, Industrial Arta,and Home Ec.Aomics. Unfortunately, theseefforts have not met with much observablesuccess. Increasingly, appeals are beingheard that a greater effort should be made toimplement career development theory in both

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the elementary and secondary schools.In discussing the results of Project

Talent, and other recent studies, Dr. JohnFlanagan (4) observed that, "Schools general-ly fail to assist the student in a) developing asense of responsibility for his educationalpersonal and social development and b) makingrealisti" educational decisions and choices toprepare him for adult roles in which he willmake full use of his talents." He observes,further, that "Recent evaluations indicate theneed to broaden the focus of educational ob-jectives in order to make planning and pre-paring for an appropriate occupational rolean integral part of the education program

'Ido II II

In August 1966, the National VocationalGuidance Association sponsored a conferenceon "Implementing Career Development Theoryand Research Through the Curriculum." (9)Participants in the conference included leadersfrom the field of curriculum as well as leadersin the field of guidance. Numerous suggestionswere advanced for incorporating meaningfulvocational experiences into the curriculum.These ranged from greater use of audio visualaids, field trips, and expanded work-studyprograms to miniaturized e,:cupational experi-ences. There were appeals for more ex-changes between industry and education andexpanded pre-service and in-service programsin career development theory for teachers.

One gains the impression from readingthe report that while there is a considerableamount of theorizing about vocational develop-ment and a limited amount of experimentalwork underway, well-developed approacheshave not, as yet, been formulated or subjectedto large scale try-out and evaluation. Thereseems to be a need for a elttlrer definition ofthe objectives of a career development pro-gram and better delineation of activities whichcan be carried out at various developmentallevels.

FACTORY TOURS ARE NOT ENOUGH

Vocational educators have alwaysrecognised the need In early guidance.

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Indeed, in many states guidance got its initialimpetus out of funds made available under theSmith Hughes Act and the George Barden Act.Now it would seem that vocational educatorshave a further opportunity to work with guid-ance specialists and curriculum people to ex-plore ways to implement the concept of careerdevelopment. In doing so, they may find un-expected allies in the business world. Let mecite one example. At a vocational educationconference In Philadelphia (13) in February1966, Dr. Charles R. De Carlo, Director ofAutomation Research for IBM, urged that waysbe found to draw together local industries andschool systems ". . . so that we guarantee avariety of work experiences without making aforced commitment on the part of the companyto hire the person after he has had the experi-ence." Elaborating on this thought, Dr. De-Carlo explained that it wasn't enough to takea class on a one day tour through a factory.He added, "That's all right, but we ought tohave an arrangement where you could havework assignments; and I mean work assign-ment at relatively young ages -- adolescentor pre-adolescent -- where a child could spendsome time -- maybe three or four days -- in awork environment to see what goes on." Headded that involvement of this type by industrycould not be expected as a matter of charity.However, he felt that the benefits derived bystudents would be well worth the cost.

It is enco4raging to hear ideas sup-portive of career development coming from arepresentative of industry. It suggests thatthere may be a greater readiness-in some in-dustries at least -- to explcre ideas that wouldhave been ridiculed as "blue sky" thinking,even a few years ago.

THE HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE OFVOCATIONAL EDUCATION

There are many other aspects ofbasic education and career development thatneed to be considered in curriculum planning,however to do so at this time would be at theexpense of the third question: "How can weprovide occupational education, appropriate to

the needs, interests and abiliti-3 of youngpeople, to prepare them to enter gainful em-ployment, progress on the job, and cope ef-fectively with changing technology?"

The foregoing question pursues the"How" of vocational education. It might havebeen more appropriate to ask, "When is thebest time to provide vocational education?"and 'What is the best administrative arrange-ment?" There is currently considerablecontrovei sey regarding the best level at whichto provide vocational education. Historically,occupationally-oriented youngsters generallyenrolled in vocational programs at the endof the eighth or ninth grade, they then devotedapproximately half of each school day to thepursuit of occupational experience in a shopor farm "laboratory," The balance of the daywas spent in general education, -- also, close-ly related to the content of the vocationalcourses.

Critics of vocational education at thesecondary level feel that eighth and ninthgraders are generally too immature to makedecisions that are to a very large extent irre-versible. They also question the wisdom oftraining young people for occupations which arelikely to undergo drastic change because of ad-vances in technology. However, their mostbasic criticism relates to the neglect of funda-mentals in favor of skills training.

PEA STRESSES BASIC EDUCATION

The Public Education Association, acitizens' organitation which undertakes stud;esand makes recommendations regarding publicEducation in New York City, has been onethe more articulate critics of vocational edu-cation as it exists at the present time. Theyrecommend that both the junior and seniorhigh schools provide a comprehensive educa-tion program that will lay the foundation forthe development of skills. To this end, thePEA would encourage students to defer speci-fic vocatio; al training until the twelfth grade,or preferably until after the student leaveshigh school. It is the PEA's view that workerstrained in a single vocational skill, without the

be. refit of a broad program of general educa-tion, will have increasing difficulty adaptingto the changing labor market. The job train-ing available at the post secondary level is ofmore value (says PEA) than that which can beobtained in secondary schools even under opti-mum conditions.

At the same time, many educatorsrecognize that it is unrealistic to think ofdeferring all vocational education to the postsecondary period. They realize that for largenumbers of students the traditional curriculumis unsuitable; and that for many of these stu-dents vocational education is appropriate edu-cation. They point to youngsters planning todrop out as soon as they reach school-leavingage and to youngsters who may stick it outuntil graduation, but who have no intention ofgoing on to any type of formal post secondaryeducation. It is obvious that for such young-sters some provision must be made for 'p-propriate occupational education while theyare still in the secondary school.

NEW YORK CITY BLUEPRINT

In 1965, the New York City schoolsdeveloped a blueprint for dealing with thisproblem, but the plan was never implemented.Joseph Zack (15), the Acting Assistant Super-intendent of Schools, states that the plan wasdevised to meet the criticism that the studententering a vocational school must commit him-self too early. Accordingly, the followingstep-wise procedure was evolved: All stu-dents were to have exposure to industrial artsin the ninth grade. In the tenth year, thosewho were thinking of preparing for a skilledtrade would be given exploratory courses invocational shops to test the genuineness oftheir interests and to discover their aptitudes.It was felt that this approach would p.-ovidefor a high degree of flexibility, permit op-portunities for self-investigation (withoutcommitment), and a chance to change direc-tion should that seem desirable. If the voca-tional interest continued and developed aspecific focus, the student would embark on avocational program during his eleventh and

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twelfth years. In the event that the programa student desired was not available in his ownschool, he would be able to transfer to anotherschool (within a larger secondary school com-plex) which offered training in the trade of hischoice. In this way, he would be able to electa program determined by interest and motiva-tion rather than by the accidents of availability.

Mr. Zack states that, "The straightjacket of a daily four period shop sequencewould be abandoned. The degree of concentra-tion would be determined by the needs of thechosen trade and the learning ability of thestudent. Furthermore, the artificial marri-age of general education and trade work wouldbe ended. The English curriculum, for ex-ample, would be the same for all studentsexcept as modified in ability grouping or theusual elective offering. The same directionshould be taken by the other disciplines, ex-cept where there are special needs in a tradearea in which some subject might become partof the shop program."

TRAINING IN SEMI-SKILLED OCCUPATIONS

The proposed plan also provided forpreparation in semi- skilled occupations. Mr.Zack states that a labor market study conduct-ed by the Vocational Division of the New YorkCity schools

". . . revealed a number of semi-skilled occupations for which thereis high placement expectancy. Stu-dents could be qualified for theseoccupations through short unitcourses which would not requireextensive shop facilities. Prepara-tion for these occupations could beofferer; to students who are approach-ing graduation without a specificeducational goal. It would beespecially suitable for the potentialdrop out, who might otherwiseleave formal education unequippedfor work and with no avenue foremployment. Some of the tradesare furniture finisher, floor tile

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and linoleum setter, householdappliance serviceman, shoe re-pairman, vari-typist, keypunchoperator, fingerprint technicianaide, recreation aide, photographeraide, audio-visual technician (pro-jectionist), landscape aide (grounds,repair and gardening), and officemachine operator."

Before post secondary opportunitieswere so readily available, a vocationallyoriented student probably felt that he had totake whatever vocational training was offeredat the secondary level since this might be hisonly opportunity to obtain skills training. To-day, he knows that by taking basic courses,he leaves the door open for a variety of op-portunities -- four-year engineering programs,two-year technical education programs, orskills-development programs -- after heleaves high school. He also realizes thathis basic education will qualify him for anapprentice program or for on-the-job trainingin industry, whether or not he has had speci-fic vocational education in high school.

SEPARATE FACILITY OR COMPREHENSIVEHLGH SCHOOL?

In an effort to promote one solution tovocational education, over alternative ap-proaches, considerable controversy has de-veloped between proponents of the compre-hensive high school and advocates of the self-contained vocational school.

The comprehensive high school isviewed by many, including Dr. Conant, asthe ideal American school. It was assumedthat by offering vocational as well as academicsubjects under one roof, all students wouldhave ready access to both types of programsand would be able to transfer readily from oneto the other as interests or aspirations chang-ed. Moreover, the comprehensive high schoolseemed to fit our conception of the democraticsociety. It was hoped that boys and girls withdiverse backgrounds and from all social class-es would learn to work together and to respect

one another within a common educationalframework.

The reality has seldom approachedthe dream. Vocational programs withincomprehensive high schools have generallybeen housed in a separate wing of the schoolplant. Because of scheduling difficulties, allstudents have not had ready access to voca-tional programs; nor have those in vocationalprograms found it easy to transfer to theacademic program (or vice versa) withoutsubstantial loss of credit.

The democratic ideal has provedillusory. Vocational educators report thatthere is a high degree of separatism. Be-cause of "dumping ground" practices, lackof college degrees by vocational teachers,and a poor overall image, both students andteachers in vocational programs are frequent-ly looked down upon by their counterparts inacademic programs.

Although the anticipated advantagesof the comprehensive high school are seldomrealized, society nevertheless pays a sub-stantial price for the effort. Unless a com-prehensive high school is very large -- atleast 3,000 students -- the vocational programis unlikely to offer the variety of opportunitiesfound in a separate vocational school. Thecost of establishing shops, keeping equipmentup-to-date, and employing qualified instruct-ors, is likely to place a financial strain onthe school budget. Only those programs whichare popular with students can be offered.Thus, the student is likely to have only anarrow choice of vocational courses. If asmall number of students are interested in avocational program that is not offered -- say,data processing or horticulture -- the schoolis not likely to establish a program just forthe students.

Advocates of the separate vocationalschool -- one where students take their tradetraining as well as related subjects -- arguethat such schools enjoy several importantadvantages over the typical comprehensivehigh school. They tend to draw students froma wider geographical area and thus have abroader base of financial support. They are

generally able to offer a greater diversity ofvocational programs, to provide more up-to-date equipment, and to employ more highlyqualified instructors. In addition, proponentsof separate vocational schools feel that be-cause trese are single-purpose institutions,they are able to maintain elope contact withindustry. This enables them to keep up withtechnological change and to place students insuitable jobs upon completion of training. Itis argued that these advantages more thanoffset any loss which may occur when a stu-dent leaves his neighborhood high school tobecome a full-time student in a vocationalschool.

SHARED-TIME FACILITY

In an effort to achieve most of theadvantages offered by the separate vocationalschool, while preserving at least some of thevalues of the comprehensive high school,many communities have organized shared-time vocational centers. Under this arrange-ment, students spend part of their time (halfdays, part of a week, alternate weeks) intheir local high schools where they study non-vocational subjects and participate in schoolactivities. They spend the balance of theirtime at a centrally located vocational school,where they take only vocational courses. Thecost of the shared-time facility is dividedamong the participating schools.

Such an arrangement has severalobvious advantages:

-- It can offer a greater varietyof occupational programs thanany single school can generallyprovide.- - It can do so at substantiallylower cost than if each localschool attempted to establishduplicate facilities.- - A student retains his identitywith his home school.- - He can participate in extracurricular activities in thehome school.

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-- He may take academic sub-jects that would not be availableto him in a self-contained voca-tional school.

The major drawback of the lhared-time school is the need for close coordinationbetween several school districts. Schoolcalendars and class schedules must mesh.Transportation is frequently a major head-ache. Moreover, there is a division ofresponsibility and authority among adminis-trators and teachers. However, these aredetails and they have been overcome suc-cessfully in many areas.

COMPARISON OF TWO TYPES OF SCHOOLS

The question arises which of thesearrangements is best? Two recent studiesfailed to turn up any conclusive evidenceto indicate that any single pattern offered aclear-cut advantage over the others.

A study conducted by the AmericanInstitute of Research in 1965 (3) asked over10,000 graduates of vocational programs torate their former schools on a four-pointscale -- from "excellent" to "poor" on tenfactors. These included: quality of instruc-tion from shop instructors, quality of in-struction from academic teachers, conditionof shop facilities and equipment, generalphysical conditions of the school, vocationalcounseling, etc. About half of the graduateshad attended self-contained vocational schoolswhile the others had received training incomprehensive high schools. No significantdifferences were found in terms of the over-all "attitude toward school" rating and onlysmall differences on specific items. Onearea where the two groups differed was inthe area of "help given in finding jobs." Thestudents from vocational schools gave theirinstitutions a higher rating on this item thandid those from comprehensive high schools.

The report also inquired about tools,equipment, and work methods in each typeof school as compared with those found bythe student on his first job. Nine out of ten

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students who entered the trade for which theyhad been trained said that tools and equipmentwere "virtually identical" or "very similar"to those they had used in school. Eight out often students made similar statements aboutwork methods. This suggests that althoughcomprehensive high schools may offer anarrower range of vocational courses, thetools and equipment available to students seemto be on par with those found in vocationalschools.

The study found no significant differ-ences in employment security, employmentstability, earnings, or degree of job satis-faction between the two groups. The onlymajor difference concerned the "relatednessof the first job to the trade studied. " Fiftythree percent of the vocational school gradu-ates -- as compared to forty percent of thecomprehensive high school graduates --found their first job in the trade for whichthey had been trained or in a closely relatedtrade. In commenting on the significance ofthis finding, the report states: "If the gradu-ates' job is not in the trade studied or in aclosely related trade, the chances are highthat he will never enter the trade or a highlyrelated trade. " The authors attribute theobserved difference to the fact that vocationalschools seem to give their graduates morehelp in job-finding than do teachers andcounselors in comprehensive high schools.

Kaufman and Schaefer in their recentstudy of vocational education in nine communi-ties located in the Eastern part of the country(6) report similar findings.

"There was no evidence thatgraduates of separate vocationalschools were better prepared ormore successful in their firstjob. Neither was there anyevidence that comprehensiveschools were leading to greateracceptance among students fromdifferent cur.lcula. On the con-trary, male vocational graduatesfrom comprehensive high schoolswere much more likely than

graduates of separate schoolsto report that they felt "lookeddown on" because of the coursethey took. Other questions onfriendship groups and participa-tion in school activities yieldedsimilar patterns of response.The case, therefore, was notmade for either school. In anegative sense, though, theevidence was more favorable tothe separate school. While itdid not appear that graduates ofthe separate school were bettertrained, neither did these gradu-ates perceive attitudes of con-descension in their school. If adecision as to type of school wereto be based on probably attitudeof its students, the evidence wouldfavor the separate vocationalschool. "

At the post secondary level, a similardebate is underway regarding the merits oflocating occupational programs in communitycolleges as against specialized institutions,such as area vocational-technical schools ortechnical institutes. Students and faculty inoccupational programs offered in communitycolleges frequently report that they are lookeddown on by their counterparts who are inacademic programs.

Some states, such as Georgia, havedecided to operate their area vocational-technical schools independently of the com-munity college programs. Other states feelthat despite some drawbacks, combined pro-grams are preferable since they offer greateropportunity for comprehensive guidance, formodification of program, and for overallarticulation.

In one state (South Carolina), vocation-al-technical education has been separated fromthe overall system of public education andplaced under an autonomous Committee forTechnical Education, which is closely linkedto the group responsible for economic develop-ment. The Committee operates ten Technical

Education Centers which offer a variety ofone year trade programs and two yeartechnical education programs. The typesof programa that are offered and their contents are determined in consultation withlocal industry to insure that those trainedwill meet manpower needs of the area. TheCommittee also operates special schools toprovide skills training needed by new indus-tries locating within the state. The promiseof a fully-trained work force -- recruited andtrained at no cost to the industry -- has ap-parently been a decisive factor in bringingnew industry to the state. In 1962 when theTEC Program got underway, new plant in-vestment in the state was about $210 millionannually. In 1966, it exceeded $600 millionand has continued to increase. The Governor,the legislature, and the business communityare now, understandably, enthusiastic sup-porters of technical education. They havealso recognized the need for strengtheninggeneral education to provide a large pool ofmanpower that can qualify for and benefitfrom skills training and technical education.

It should be evident from the illustra-tions cited, that there is a great diversity inthe ways in which vocational education is pro-vided. No single system seems to be ideal;yet if one had to make a prediction about thetrend over the next decade, it is likely thattraining at the post secondary level wouldshow the greatest growth.

CHANGES IN THE OFFING?

The nature of vocational training atthe secondary level is likely to change itscharacter in the years ahead. There willprobably be greater emphasis on basic educa-tion, so that specific job training (when offer-ed) will tend to come in the eleventh or twelfthgrade. There will probably be a marked ex-pansion of vocational education opportunitiesof an exploratory nature. These will servea dual purpose: 1) to increase the holdingpower of the school by making education moremeaningful and more palatable and 2) to pre-pare youngsters to make vocational decisions

1

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on the basis of a broader experience with theworld of work.

The nature of the vocational trainingoffered at the secondary level is !ikely tofocus on clusters of occupations as well ason single occupations, and there will probablybe more opportunities to get training in semi-skilled jobs than is presently the case. Stu-dents who plan to drop out of school prior tograduation or who plan to go to work aftergraduation, will receive better preparationin job-getting and job-holding skills.

We are likely to see the emergence ofa new type of occupational education facilitywhich will combine many of the best featuresof the separate vocational school, the shared-time vocational school, and the MDTA SkillsCenter. It will draw students from a numberof comprehensive high schools and may evenprovide orientation opportunities for elemen-tary school youngsters. Such centers willoffer a diversity of training opportunities.The health occupations and the service occupa-tions (including public service) will be repre-sented, along with the more traditional fields.Nor will such centers be conceived narrowly,as a facility intended to serve only studentswho are occupationally-oriented. College-bound boys and girls will be able to takeoccupational programs as electives for ex-ploratory and/or enrichment purposes.

Most of the ingredients that will gointo the making of such centers already exist.Rochester, New York has begun to implementthe concept with an Occupational Annex de-signed to serve 3,000 students during the dayand 1,500 adults at night.

THE CLUSTER CONCEPT

The cluster concept of occupationaleducation is receiving considerable attention.Proponents -- such as Professor Don Maleyat the University of Maryland -- disclaim anyintention of displacing traditional vocationaleducation with this approach (7). They seejob clusters as a supplement -- one that willbe especially suitable for students who arenow enrolled in General Education Programs

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and who do not have well-defined vocationalgoals. Professor Maley feels that ". . . thisgroup frequently leaves schocl with a reason-able good basic education, but . . . withoutany form of occupation preparation. The pro-posed cluster nrograms in vocational educationwith its two periods a day could easily be partof the General Curriculum student's program."It could then provide an opportunity, says Dr.Maley, for job exploration and at the sametime offer an opportunity to acquire sufficientskill, and understanding for job entry. Sincethe student is not channeled into a specificoccupation, he nas a chance to appraise hisinterests, and potentialities in several fieldsprior to making a decision regarding the onein which he would like to work or seek furthertraining.

Dr. Maley and his associates at theUniversity of Maryland have identified thefollowing clusters:

Construction Cluster (Occupationsdealing with the building of homes).This includes carpenter, electrician,mason, painter, plumber, etc.Electro-Mechanical Installation andRepair (primarily of equipment foundin homes or business establishments).This cluster includes air conditioningand refrigeration servicemen, busi-ness machine servicemen, homeappliance servicemen, radio and TVservicemen.Metal Forming and Fabrication(deals with machinery, bending, andjoining metals). It includes assembler,machining in many forms, sheet metalworker, and welder.Human Services Cluster (deals withnutrition, food services, food handling,home management, institutionalmanagement, beauty culture, horti-culture, health services and recrea-tion.) This cluster has been pro-posed for those sectors where thereare employment opportunities innursing homes, resorts, and countryclubs, and other types of recreationalfacilities).

The cluster concept is currently beingexplored by the American Institutes for Re-search and Public Schools, Quincy, Mass-achusetts (1). The project is attempting todetermine the effectiveness of instruction de-rived explicitly from analysis of behavior onthe job. Eleven job families have been analyz-ed to find out what people do, and what know-ledges and skills they need in order to do theirjobs. The areas being studied are: Electro-electronics, Metals and Machines, PowerMechanics, General Woodworking, GeneralPiping, Foods Preparation, Computer DataProcessing, Health Occupation, Graphic andCommercial Arts, Home Economics andBusiness Education.

It is still too early to generalize aboutthe significance of the job cluster approachor its probably impact on the vocational educa-tion curriculum. Commenting on ProfessorMaley's research (as reported in the October1967 issue of American Vocational Journal)Dr. Thomas Olivo, Director of IndustrialEducation in New York State makes the follow-ing editorial comment:

"Experienced state and nationalleaders who have contributedsignificantly to major curriculumphilosophy and developments invocational-industrial-technicaleducation seem to be missing (i.e. ,from Professor Maley's Project)certainly those who serve as ap-proved vocational industrial teachertrainers, vocational curriculumdevelopment personnel, outstand-ing vocational-industrial-technicaleducation teachers, qualified areadirectors cf vocational educationand others need to carry on in-dependent evaluations of the (Maley)study.

To be forthright, editorially, theseexperienced, knowledgeable personsand groups need to resolve a philoso-phical issue; is the broad general-,ized occupational cluster programapproach really sound vocational

education? In this instance, wouldit constitute a honafide quality voca-tional industrial education program?"

It would seem despite Professor Maley'sspecific disclaimer -- that the cluster conceptis not intenled as a substitute for other typesof vocational education programs, but only asa supplement -- the idea is likely to comeunder fire from the more traditional vocationaleducators.

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS

One possible bnne of contention may bethe qualifications of those who will teach in pro-grams employing the job cluster approach. Ifit appears that schools anticipate using indus-trial arts teachers and other personnel whodo not meet the "experience requirement" ofcu; rent state licensing regulations for voca-tional teachers, there is likely to be oppositionfrom the leadership of traditional vocationaleducation.

In New Jersey there has been a rapidexpansion of vocational education through theinstallation of so-called "pilot programs",which, in many instances, have employed in-structional personnel who did not meet statecertification requirements. "Old-line voca-tional educators have been sharply criticalof this approach, maintaining that it does notrepresent "quality" education. However, byresorting to what may be a less-than-idealsolution, the Division of Vocational TechnicalEducation in New Jersey has been able to in-crease the number of students involved invocational programs. Prior to 1964 theproportion of students in the 15 to 19 yearold age group enrolled in vocational pro-grams ranged between 3% and 7%. This hasnow been increased to approximately 29%.

Experimental projects of this typeshould be subjected to a thorough evaluation.Follow-up studies are needed to determinewhat happens to the youngsters after theyleave high school. Do they get jobs in thefield in which they were trained or in a close-ly related field? Are they able to progresson the job after employment? What do their

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supervisors think about their occupationalpreparation and their work attitudes? If nosignificant differences are discernible betweenstudents trained in traditional programs andthose trained in the so-called "pilot programs, "it might suggest the need for re-examining hoassumptions underlying the "experience" re-quirement, which has been a basic tenet ofvocational education for many years.

Probably the best thing that couldhapr.en to vocational -- or any other form ofeducation -- would be the questioning of thisand other long-standing assumptions. Wehave already seen a number of significantbreakthroughs -- such as the redefinition ofwhat constitutes vocational education and theelimination of the requirement that studentsspend half of each school day in a shop or ona farm. Innovative ideas deserve to be givena fair trial. However careful evaluationshould be a prerequisite of such endeavorsbefore they are recommended for widespreadadoption elsewhere.

SHOULD COOPERATIVE PROGRAMS BEEXPANDED?

It seems to this writer that one of theways to broaden vocational education and tofacilitate career development would be toughthe expansion of cooperative programs. Suchprograms have been highly successful in thefield of Distributive Education. Large numbersof students have found it possible to work partof each day in a business establishment, whilespending the remainder of the day in schoolstudying vocational subjects and strengtheningtheir basic educational skills. The coopera-tive approach has also been used in Trade andIndustrial Education, but not nearly to thesame extent as in Distributive Education.

It would seem worthwhile to examinecarefully such programs as have been carriedout to determine how well they have worked.What factors seem to be related to successand failure? Do such programs work bestwhen preparatory work in the school settingprecedes on-the-job training? How muchsupervision by school personnel seems nec-essary for such programs to work successfully?

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The experience of Neighborhood YouthCorps is also worth examining. Young peoplefrom deprived backgrounds have been given op-portunities to work in a wide variety of occu-pational settings: non-profit agencies relatedto govern.nent, health, recreation, etc. Thegoal of the program has been to develop goodwork habits and job attitudes, rather than todevelop occupational skills. It would seemthat these agencies offer a fertile field forvarious levels of occupational education --for job exploration and for applying the know-ledge and skill taught in the classroom. Inall likelihood the traditional vocational edu-cator would dismiss such programs as havingno place in a quality program of vocationaleducation, but to the educator concerned withthe vocational development of young people,they would seem to offer an opportunity of un-pat alleled magnitude.

WHAT ROLE FOR ON-THE-JOB TRAINING?

One might also want to look at someof the practices of the Manpower Trainingand Development Program -- not only at theorientation and curriculum content of SkillsCenters -- but also at on-the-job training pro-grams sponsored by Industrial groups. Onesuch program, being carried out in conjunctionwith the machine tool industry, pays ownersof machine tool companies for providing train-ing opportunities for machinist apprentices.MDTA funds are also being used to reimburseautomotive apprentices.

If the concept of reimbursing industryfor accepting training responsibilities hasany merit, how far can it be extended? Oneadvantage of the approach, if it is workable,would be a tremendous expansion of the fieldsin which training could be offered. Vocationalprograms would no longer have to be limitedto a relatively small number of occupations.The training provided would be on up-to-dateequipment, frequently beyond the reach of theaverage school. Moreover, the trainees wouldbe backed by the training resources of industry.In many cases these far surpass those avail-able in a vocational school.

At the Philadelphia conference alludedto earlier (13), Mrs. Rosy In Kane, a Man-power Development Specialist with the Officeof Economic Opportunity, observed that"(when) you go into the training program inindustry, you find they are exciting. Theyuse all kinds of audio-visual aids and trainingtechniques that are simply not being utilizedin the schools. There is so little interchangebetween those who are training in industryand those who are training in the schools.It's as though they were two totally differentsystems. " As a matter of fact they are dif-ferent systems, it's unlikely that any schoolsystem has the financial ability to duplicatethe training resources of a General Motors,Ford-Philco, IBM, or Xerox; nor should theyhave to do so. It would seem worthwhile toexplore with industry the possibility of con-tracting to use training facilities and trainingpersonnel during such times as these are notrequired for company training programs.(Tax benefits might even be offered as aninducement.)

WHAT ROLE FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS?

We might also ask why public schoolsdo not make greater use of training opportuni-ties that already exist in the private sector?Suppose a high school has only two or threeyoungsters who are interested in such fieldsas cosmetology, data processing, or elec-tronics. It is obviously uneconomical toestablish programs for only a few students.Do we channel them into existing programs ordeny them training altogether ? Might ft notbe possible for a school to arrange for suchstudents to receive their training in privatevocational schools that already exist in thecommunity? Tuition would be far less costlythan hiring teachers, providing equipment,and finding space within the school setting.

This idea is not as revolutionary asit sounds. Many smaller schools now enrollstudents in correspondence courses in sub -jects (such as calculus) where there are toofew students to justify offering it in theregular curriculum. Might not the same

01101011111Wesee...,..

reasoning apply in the case of vocationaltraining? In fields where there are a greatmany students interested, such as auto me-chanics or business education, it may bemore economical for the school to establishits own program. However, the number ofsuch programs -- Judging from past experi-ence -- is quite limited. It would seem thatthe shared-time facility or skills center isone approach, but in many localities enrollingstudents in a private vocational program ona part-time basis may be an equally goodsolution. At least it's worth thinking about.

The ideas that have been advanced inthe latter part of this paper are intended tostimulate discussion of alternatives andsupplements to the present procedures foraccomplishing the mission of vocational edu-cation. There may be good reason whymany -- perhaps most -- of the suggestionsthat have been mentioned should be discarded.

FOOTNOTES

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But the quest for new approaches must go on.Now more than ever there is a need for anactive interchange of ideas between vocationaleducation and other disciplines. The ..mesare changing -- as is the mission of vocationaleducation. Already we can sense that voca-tional education is in the process of becomingmuch more than the preparation of youth forwork. Vocational concepts are permeatingthe curriculum, the instructional process,guidance, and the preparation for leisure.In the rears ahead, it is likely that the con-cept of vocational education will be broadenedeven further -- so that the totality will indeedbe greater than the sum of its parts. It isindeed the 'best of times" and, possibly, forsome who may feel threatened "the worst oftimes." Yet, even the latter must recognizethat the vocational education curriculum can-not stand still.

'Altman, James W. , Research on General Vocational Capabilities (Skills ana Knowledge)Final Report, Institute for Performance Technology, American Institute for Research, Pittsburgh,Pa., March 1966, 151 pp.

2Chase, Edward T., "Learning to be Unemployable, " Harpers Magazine, April 1963.3 Eninger, Max U. , The Process and Product of T & I High School Level Vocational Educa-

tion ;n the United States, American Institute for Research, Pittsburgh, Pa., September 1965.4Flanagan, John C., Functional Education for the Seventies, Phi Delta Kalman, September

1967, pp. 27-33.5Frank, Nathaniel H., Summary Report 9th Summer Study on Occupational, Vocational&

and Technical Education, July 6-August 13,1965. Science Teaching Center, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, Cambridge, 1966.

6Kaufman, Jacob J., Schaefer, Carl J. etal., The Role of the Secondary Schools in thePreparation of Youth for Employment, Institute for Research on Human Iles° ces, The Pennsyl-vania State University, University Park, Pa., February 1967.

?Maley, Donald, The Cluster Concept: Chance for Occupational Exploration, AmericanVocational Journal, October 1967, pp. 22-24.

8Morgan, Robert M., Bushnell, David S. , Designing an Organic Curriculum Bureau ofResearch, U. S. Office of Education, November 1966, 9 pp.

tio-al Vocational Guidance Association, Conference on Iaiplementing Career Develop-ment Theory and Research Through the Curriculum, May 1-4, 1966, 194 pp.

10Public Education Association, Committee on Education, Guidance, and Work: Re otLlanizingSecondary Education in New York City, New York, October, 1963. The Secondary School Program

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in New York City, New York, November 1964.nRoeber, Edward C. , Let's Stop Trying to Separate the Vocational, American Vocational

Journal October 1967, p. 18-20.12Ruttenberg, Stanley H. , Manpower Needs, the Future Speech presented at AVA Con-

vention, December 7, 1965, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C. , 52 pp,13School District of Philadelphia, Vocational Education . . Today and Tomorrow, Report

Conference, February 25-26, 1966, 83 pp.14U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, Education

for a Changing World of Work: Report of the Panel of Consultants on Vocational Education,Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1963.

15Zaek, Jacob B. , Incorporating Vocational Education into the Comprehensive High School,Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 49, No. 301, May 1965,pp. W4-110.

Nathaniel H. Frank*

REACTION

Dr. Shimberg, in his paper on "Vocational Education: Is It More Than Education for aVocation?" poses three basic questions to which answers must be sought if one is to design proper-ly a sound program of vocation education. They are:

1. How can we make sure that every student receives the basic educationnecessary for occupational education?

2. How can we provide each youngster with the information and experiencesthat he needs in order to make intelligent decisions about his life's work?

3. How can we provide occupational education that is appropriate to the needs,interests, and abilities of young people so that they can enter gainful em-ployment, progress on the job, and cope with changing technology effectively?

My discussion of these questions is anattempt to supplement the excellent discus-sions presented in the paper. With regard toquestion 1, I submit that part of everyone'seducation should be concerned with preparinghim to function effectively as a contributingmember of society. Of course it must beunderstood that formal education can at bestsupply only part of what is required for oc-cupational or career proficiency. If this pro-position is accepted, then occupationallyoriented education must be recognized (in factas well as in pronouncements) as an integralpart of all education. It is particularly urgentto supply students with new routes and Intro-ductions (alternatives to the traditional sub-ject-structurod curriculum) to higher learning.These should capitalize on non-verbal capa-bilities and talents as a base for the acquisi-tion of skills, of understanding and of cont-petence in the academie disciplines. Voca-tional education provides a way of learnt-1g --

and is properly not describable as a curricu-lum -- that is inherently concerned with non-verbal modes of learning. What is sorelyneeded is the availability of project-type,goal-oriented processes, reqoiring personalinvestigative involvement of students.

Investigative patterns of learning canbe fashioned for a wide range of objectives,from the carefully controlled investigationdesigned to lead to understanding within adiscipline to the essentially non-disciplinaryworking with real processes, materials andsystems. The latter are characterized bytheir extraordinary complexity. The closerthe investigation Iles to real-life problems,the greater the need for an infusion ofempiricism, intaltion, judgment, etc. alongwith application of fundamental principles.To borrow a term from medicine, what iscalled for is the preparation and introductionof "clinical" education. In providing newInvestigative learning opportunities,

Dr. Frank is Professor of Physics, M.I. T.

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provision must be made for optimizing a mixwith academic learning to match individualstudent needs and differences.

There is much to recommend an initialand strong emphasis on technolorical investi-gative learning. In fact, insight into andunderstanding of technology should become asignificant component of general education.Not only is the use of technological devicesand operations spreading rapidly to almostevery kind of society's activities but, evenmore importantly, technology has alreadybecome a major driving force for socialchange.

Turning now to the second questionwhich calls for Intelligent decision-makingas to career choice on the part of the students,I would emphasize that the need for decisionmaking capabilities in general is essential.In contrast to the prevalent absence of thepossibility of student decision making in mosttraditional educational patterns, an investi-gative educational framework would havebuilt into its operation both the opportunityand need for student decision making at anyand all educational levels.

The third question poses complex re-quirements for which adequate answers seemto me attainable only if we are willing to con-sider far-reaching changes in the rationale ofoccupationally ()dented education, Traditional-ly, occupational education has evolved in learn-ing patterns based on the acquisition of skillsrequired to function in a single occupation orin a related cluster of occupations. Becauseof the rapidly growing rate of change of skillrequirements, a major change is called forin the rationale underlying the design of edu-cational offerings such that they are centeredon meaningful themes and needs that have thepromise of relative longevity and importanceto society. Such themes can be found in themajor activities of people and, for example,in the technological domain are exemplifiedby such missions as energy conversion anduse; the use and manipulation of materials;xanmunications; transportation of goods,services and people; etc. Such central guide-lines for the generation of experience-based

learning provide fundamentd cognitive themesand cohesiveness and also couple naturallyand strongly to the academic body of funda-mental knowledge. Of course, the acquisitionof requisite skills for the discharge of suchmissions will be part of the experience, butchanging skill requirements will leave rela-tively unchanged the main purposes to be at-tained by them. It is evident that this kindof shift of emphasis in the design of learningexperience is readily generalizable to arearother than the technological. Furthermore,it might be well to examine the possibility ofreversing the temporal sequence of subjectpresentations, especially in the areas of thesocial studies and the humanities, startingwith current situations and problems andworking backwards to attain understandingof how they came into being. The relevanceof such a scheme to today's concerns is clear,as is the relation of the more immediate pastto changes in employment and career oppor-tunities. Out of this structure can emergeinsight into rates of societal change and withthis a reasonable base for extrapolation forprediction of things to come.

I turn now to brief comments aboutsome of the items discussed in Dr. Shimberg'spaper. First, with respect to computer-assisted instruction, it seems to me that it isimportant to explore how computers can beused to do more than improve learning op-portunities within traditional educational offer-ings. In particular, there is need for exploita-tion of computer simulation to extend labora-tory experience and provide for individualizedlearning in this area. Next, with regard tothe role of counselors in helping students makewise decisions as to Clair career choices, Iwould raise two questions: How can counselorsacquire a base adequate for this kind of coun-seling? Is practically total dependence onverbal transfer of information sufficient forthis function?

The discussion of separate vocationalfacilities versus comprehensive high schoolscalls for a closer look at the problem. Theneed for comprehensive education is notgenerally available in most so-called

comprehensive high schools. Since separationis built into the program offerings, it is notsurprising that physical separation is not asensitive variable. Operations based on time-sharing of facilities by students mitigaie a-gainst truly comprehensive learning. Thecluster concept does provide a step forwardfrom the separate skill training programs,but can at best produce a relatively smallcontinuous change in the overall strategy.When a discontinuous quantum jump is calledfor, as in a transition from a skill-based to afunction-based educational framework, suchprocesses will not do the job.

Teacher qualifications are of coursecentral any constructive change is to reallywork in practice. Cooperative group teachingin .hich each member of a group must acquireliteracy in the fields of competence of theothers in the group is required to obtain thesynergistic effects so vital to comprehensivelearning. Cooperative work- study programsinvariably are confronted by the danger thatthe work and school experiences of a studentmay actually turn out to be two valuable butrelatively independent experiences. What iscalled for is a cross flow of educators andwork supervisors between work and education.This is in many ways more critical than stu-dent cross flow. Only by personal involve-ment of both educators and work supervisorsin each other's activities can an effective

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fusion and mutual reinforcement of the twostudent experiences be attained.

Finally, I should comment very briefly on a fundamental issue. Vocational edu-cation at the secondary school level is calledon to serve two important functions: to pr.):vide an adequate occupational educationalbase for its students and also to providenecessary and realistic job entry skills.Clearly this is too much to be accomplishedwith any degree of excellence within theframework of secondary school operations.vocational education has in general focusedstrongly on the second function and done thebest it could relative to the first. I would liketo call to your attention the extraordinarilycomplex and awesome task of ensuring thatstudents can effectively make the transitionfrom formal schooling to work or careerproficiency. The difficulties and efforts re-quired are seriously underestimated. Thiswhole problem needs serious study and raisesquestions es to the advisability of eliminatingthe relative sharp interface between schooland work by the creation of new institutionalsettings in which the necessary collaborationbetween employers and educators can takeplace naturally and efficiently to provide therequisite training-learning pi ograms. I havehad occasion to outline a plan for this mixedoperation, but the limitations of time pre-clude a presentation at this conference.

ADMINISTRATION

Richard A. Gibboney*

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT, POVERTY, AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

It is a truism that a society leaves its cultural stamp on the formal educational system whichit supports. But how many educators and lay policy makers understand this fundamental idea?There is evidence in much o" the current literature on new programs for vocational-technical edu-cation, for example, that the social fact of poverty is ignored or only dimly perceived by education-al planners.

The critical conclusion is this: UntilAmerica decides to come to grips with thesocial crisis posed by poverty and unemploy-ment, vocational programs will always be in-adequate to meet the social and educationalneeds posed by these social problems. Voca-tional educators, and those laymen responsiblefor policy in vocational education, will reapthe whirlwind when the public suddenly 'Vie-covered" science in 1957 when Sputnik shot in-to the heavens. We are, in effect, makingwell-intentioned promises which we cannotfulfill because we are ignoring the powerfulinfluences of the larger culture and euggera-ting the corrective influences of the school.

Can we ignore the social reality whichMichael ilarrington so effectively documentsin both statistical and human terms? ''Jrrieof ilarrington's data are as follows:

Some 20-25% of our people are poor(40 to 50,000,000) using an income of $3000-$3500 for an urban family of four as the cut-off, About 30% of American families live insub-standard housing.

In 1958, the lowest one-fifth of ourfamilies (the poor) earned $1460, or 4,7% oftotal family income; while the highest one-fifth earned about $14, 200 or 45.5% of total

family income. In 1958, the poor had less ofa share of personal income than they had in1944.

Robert Lanmman's study estimated ourpoverty population (peoplel) at 32,000,000 ofwhom 6,400,000 were non-white; 21,000,000were in family units headed by a person withan eighth grade education or less; 8,000,000were over 65 years of age; and 11,000,000were under 18 years of age.1

Estimates indicate there will be2,000,000 young people, most of whom are yetto appear, without a grade school diploma.

Job Corps, work-training programsarc good, but full employment is a necessity.A big public investment will be ma:luta-xi forfull employment.

Between May 1162 and May 1963 thelabor force grew by 1,200,000; jobs increasedby 900,000. Almost the total rise in Jobless-ness was felt by the 16 to 19 year olds. Theirunemployment rate was over 2C%, approxi-mately four times the rate of the adult force.2

With the children of the poor, a grimprocess is at work: it is likely they will be-come the parents of the next generation in aculture of poverty. Poverty is deadly for theyoung. It is more and more difficult 'to break

*Dr. Oibboney is Visiting Professor of Education, University of Pennsylvania.

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out." These children go to the inferiorschools, and come from families who have alow opinion of education. Thus our first gen-eration of hereditary poverty may be with us.

The young are about one-third of thepoverty group. There is presently no realway out for most of them. 3

As Harrington makes clear, we aretalking about people not numbers alone. Hefeels and communicates the desperation hiddenin the Labor Department's statistics. We haveheeded neither the desperation nor the statis-tics in any way commensurate with the humandimension of the problem.

Poverty hits more than the pocketbook.It twists the spirit. Mental health studies showthe poor have a 40% greater risk of mentalillness; the poor have a treated rate of psychia-try illness almost three times as great as anyone of the other four social classes studied.This mental sickness is a means of relatingto a diseased social environment, They takewhat the tide brings in, which is not much.4

So our poor, and they are legion, areundereducated; untrained for jobs which do notusually exist for them; many come from homesbroken by divorce, separation, or desertion.'They are, not without reason, hostile to thelarger society and suspicious of it. If a pro-gram for training does become available,many times they cannot qualify.

Our poor are atypical - they conformto their own society. They are "odd man"and they are "out."

Vocational education itself cannotcreate jobs. If it graduates from the ghettoor the suburb are trained but there are nojobs waiting, social pressure continues tobuild. Vocational training has merely deflect-ed the pressure -- albeit to a higher level.

What can a vocational guidance counse-lor do with a youth who is not there? Withone who has dropped out of the society of theschool and into another because of more funda-mental social reasons?

How educable are many of these youth,suffering from feelings of alienation, hostileto the dominant groups that the school repre-sents, and handicapped by inadequate medical

care? Almost insurmountable educationalproblems thus are created by more basicsocial problems.

Is an electronics course the answezto these disabilities? Does not society havesome preliminary work to do before the schoolcan reasonably be expected to educate?

Does not vocational education need aclimate of full employment? Does it not re-quire an entry job to train for?

Can we ignore the one-third of ourcitizens who are not "there" -- in school, atwork, sharing in the rewards of the "affluentsociety?"

Vocational educators alone cannotsolve social problems, but they are in aunique position to point out to citizens andlegislators that the necessary investment ineducation is closely linked to investment inprograms directed at the root causes of pov-erty and unemployment. Otherwise the impliedpromises of vocational education cannot be metand a strong negative reaction against vocation-al education may occur when the relationshipbetween poverty and vocational education be-comes more clear to the public.

If society neglects its primary respon-sibility, education can do little more thanbail out the social boat. If, while furiouslyballing, educators give the illusion of pro-gress, fundamental solutions to social pro-blems may be seriously delayed and educationitself may be hurt.

Is vocational education adequatelymeeting evident social and human needs? Isit properly "linked in" with our social andeducational systems? The answers must bea qualified "no." A portion of the responsi-bility for this condition rests with educatorsand board members who exert the primaryinfluence on educational policies through actionor inaction in response to problems which maybe recognized or ignored.

What are some of the basic factorswhich may account for the orphan status ofvocational education in cur society and in ourschools?

The five factors cited below contributeto this condition.

011,....74,.....-

Our Greek heritage which undervaluesthe work of the craftsman. A rigid attitudewhich led us to accept specious dualisms hasalso plagued us; e.g. , process and purpose,mind and body, being and becoming, theoryand practice, and content and method. If wetoo hastily over-value the abstract to theconcrete, for example, we pose difficultiesfor such legitimate human endeavors as thedance, painting, music and, in another area,for industrial arts, vocational education, theuse of concrete materials in learning, and theplanned study of the living community. It isprobably no accident that such activities andsubjects are today absent from the educationof a majority of our students.

The prevailing influence of the uppersocial classes on educational policy contribut-ed to the isolation of vocational education.This influence rather consistently throughoutour history emphasised academic subjects,college entrance requirements, and whichonly slowly opened the school door to increas-ing numbers of rm. youth. (The door was al-most fully open In the 1920's).

The relative isolation of vocationaleducators from other specialists in ourschools and universities permitted the voca-tional specialist and non-specialist alike toindulge in self-fulfilling fantasies about theother. (Until recently both groups were rel-atively pleased with their rc:spcutive fantasiesbefore the education acts of Congress pushedthem closer together.)

A narrowly practical view of vocationaleducation, enhanced by the vocational educa-tors' isolation from both his educational andindustrial colleagues also kept vocationaleducitim out of the educational mainstream.This development has left us with morenarrow -skill specialities than many educatorsbelieve to be desirable. Such narrow trainingis out of step with changi ,g industrial require-ments and the broader intellectual attainmentsrequired for technil..al work and successive jobretraining throughout me's working life.

The too frequent indifference of theeducational generalist and lay policy-makerto the ideas and concerns of the intellectual

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community and to the developing social pro-blems in the United States left the schoolswithout an articulated value system to whichthere was deep commitment and which wouldhave exerted the determining influence oncountless "practical questions" which demand-ed a response. The lack of basic programsuntil recently for either the disadvantaged orgifted student in many of our schools are twoof many possible examples which illustratethis point.

In sum, what the practical man thoughtwas practical, aloofness from educationaltheory and growing social concerns, may nothave been so practical after all. Few institu-tions can sustain themselves with only nay-elastic glances at their mirror image.

A quantitative profile of vocationaleducation today may be helpful in assessingour vocational effort on the basis of social andhuman needs.

By 1976, 4,000,000 workers with newskills will be needed. Only 255,000 are nowbeing triined.° If the need by 1976 proves tobe half that predicted, the gap between needand effort is overwhelming.

Before the Vocational Education Actof 1983, there were 405 area vocational schoolsin operation; today there are 766. By 1976,1900 area schools will be available at the pre-sent rate of construction.° This increase ofapproximately 85% in area vocational schoolsin four years is commendable in a too-longneglected sector of education. The real needfor 1900 such schools by 1975 can only be seenon the faces of thousands of troubled studentswho need these facilities now (and co' inlessthousands of others who have long since"graduated" and who are, presumably, makingthe best of it.)

There are approximately 22.000 sec-ondary schools in the United States. About2,000 of these schools, are offering modernagricultural courses in ornamental hoLticulture,forestry, and agricultural mechanics. r Ap-proximately 1,600 schools are providing work-study programs.8 A review of programs insuch areas as electronics, cosmetology,building trades, and auto mechanics would no

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doubt reveal that far less than a majority ofour schools a..e offering relevant vocationalcourses. Given the relatively slow spread ofvocational education up to 1963, such an as-sumption would appear to be valid.

Dollars needed and dollars actuellyspent on a program are a good general indexof social need and the response to meet it.The several states (three states not reporting)estimated that they required approximately$1,140,000,000 in local, state, and federalfunds adequately to meet their vocational-technical-educational needs for the fiscal year1967 (exclusive of MDT needs). The totalexpenditure for such programs irk fiscal year1966 was close to $755,000,000. We againsee the obvious gap, but it does not appear tobe so serious as the symbolic program gapbetween the total number of secondary schoolsand the small number offering modern coursesin that oldest of vocational subjects, agricult-ure. It is true, of course, that it is easierto appropriate and spend money than it is toget relevant programs, properly taught, tolive students. Two points are pertinent ifwe are to reach live students with relevantprograms.

On boih the basis of common senseobservation and empirical evidence, it is clearthat many of the vocational programs we havehad over the years nave made a positive psy-chological difference to thousands of youth.The idea of the curriculum as therapy is ap-propriate. This idea holds that a curriculum,with its inherent materials and instructionalmethods, may consciously be used to developattitudes of personal, worth linked to honestsuccess experiences for students regardlessof their presumed capacities or incapacities.The primary emphasis is on the developmentof attitudes and feelings (affective qualities)rather than primarily on knowledge and skills(cognitive qualities) although Lott. kinds oflearning are obviously given.

The experiment in Perrysburg, Ohio,in the Penta-County Vocational School, is anexample of the curriculum as therapy. Onehundred-twenty students who were serioustruancy cases were selected by the adminis-tration as likely dropouts. In the first year of

operation with a new curriculum, the attend-ance rate averaged 95 percent; many studentstraveled much greater distances to get to thevocational school than to their previously at-tended iced high schools.10

Although these and other data are pre-liminary, it is reasonable to assume that theyoung people involved are developing new feel-ings of their own worth and better attitudestoward school and society. Factors such asthese should be systematically researched inthe Perrysburg effort.

Our schools are word bound. Wordsare, in most schools, not only symbols forreality but The Reality. Partial evidence forthis statement is found in our near-totaldependence on a textbook and talks-by-teachers.This is not an anti-intellectual position, but aplea for a more balanced educational effort toreach effectively more students. The road tothe senses is not so narrow that it can only betraversed by words. Certainly geheral pur-pose shops or laboratories which offer crea-tive opportunities to solve problems in three-dimensions and to explore the characteristsof many physical materials and tools; exper-iences in painting, sculpture, and dance; orthe construction of objects from wire, metal,or wood provide many students with a welcomerelief from the incessent words and lead to thediscovery of new interests and skills whichwould otherwise be missed. These activitiesshould lead, In short, to learning and wouldbe a subtle reminder that hand-mind work isalso important to one's growth.

It is clear that the social success ofvocational-technical education is clearly tiedto the larger social problems of poverty andunemployment. False expectancies should notbe created lr, the public mind. State and na-tional organizations of vcattonal educators(and other oi.,oational organisations also)should re-e)nphasice this relationship to stateand Federal legislators.

The intellectual isolation of vocationaland general educators from each other, coupledwith the historical indifference of lay policyboards to she needs of lower class and lessverbal sh, !wits, has contributed to the ex-cessive na rrowness of most contemporary

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vocational programs and to the lack of any majority of our 22,000 secondary schools.comprehensive vocational program in the

FOOTNOTES

'Michael Harrington, The Other America (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1962) pp. 137,177-182.

2Miehael Harrington, "The New Lost Generation: Jobless Youth," New York TimesMagazine, May 24, 1964, pp. 13, 68, 70.

3Harrington, op. cit., pp. 182-183.4Harrington, The Other America, pp. 121, 126, 130.8"Vocational Education -- A Time to Shift Gears," School Management, 11:154, March ,

6Grant Venn, 'Vocational Education for All," National Association of the SecondarySchool Principals Bulletins 51:317:37, March, 1967.

p. 36.8R. Stewart Jones, 'Instructional Problems and Issues," Review of Educational Research,

36:4:414-423, October, 1966.8"Highlighti" Estimates Concerning Vocational-Technical Education, " A. V.A. Study No.

1, February 1967, American Vocations' Association, Washington, D. C., mimeographed.10Venn, op. cit., p. 38.

1967.

John E. Deady°

REACTION

In a direct and lucid presentation, Dr. Qibboney has emphasized the serious gap which ex-ists between educational theory and practice and its resulting effect on society. Closing this gapis the challenge which all of us must face. I think we are a bit like the scientists who understoodhow to split the atom but needed time, money, and personnel to do Oe job.

Dr. Qibboney speaks of the need for agreat quantity of Vocational Education butequally important, he stresses the new forquality programs. He states that until we asa people come to grips with the problems ofpoverty Enid unemployment, we shall neverdevelop adequate Vocational Educational Pro-grams. I would insert here that VocationalEducation will be inadequate unless we con-sider the needs of millions of people who livein this cybernetic society who will changetheir jobs five or six times in their workinglives and will have to receive special trainingfor each change.

I believe one thing is certain: Educa-tion has not met the challenge yet and as Iview the myriad, complex problems facingeducation today, I seriously question that wecan find solutions to them within the tradition-al framework of local control and support --but this is an area for study in itself.

Dr. Qibboney suggests that untilrecently educators wouldn't go beyond theirown backyards and I believe he is correct insaying this. The educational "establishment, "and by that I mean our public schools, isprimarily concerned with doing rather Juinthinking. A teacher who is before a classfive periods a day, plans lessons, corrects

papers and handles his 'busy work" has littletime for imaginative activities. Basically,creativity is not rewarded in our schools ai,dthere has been little academic freedom in thetrue sense of the word.

On the other hand, teachers do not feelfree in an individualistic melieu. This con-dition is the result of a commonly hell beliefthat education's role is to reflect the values ofsociety rather than to shape them. We hearthe cries of anguish from teachers. They arewell aware that existing educational patternswill not do the job which must be done but theydo not have the training, knowledge, experi-ence or time to formulate answers to obviousproblems which they race daily.

In a typical community, the schoolcommittee tends to spend more time on ad-ministrative matters than discussing majorissues facing education and finding viablesolutions to the problems which are identified.Frequently committees and superintendentsengage in a game which might be called"survival," but enough on that subject.

Frequently, new ideas which are in-troduced and which collide with tradition arefrowned upon. There is little money availablefor experimentation. (As a matter of fact Idoubt that adequate sums of money ever can

*Dr. Deady is Superintendent of Schools, Springfield, Massachusetts.

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be made available unless we overhaul ourantiquated tax structure which has its rootsin an agrarian society which has long sincedisappeared.) Dr. Gibboney states quitecorrectly that what is passed off as researchor experimentation is "only as deep as thepaper it Is written on. " We, as educators,like charlatans, provide nostrums whichseldom alleviate and never cure the proJlemsfacing education today. Lest this be consider-ed a scathing indictment against administra-tive leadership, I think it is only fair to pointout that we share the blame for our shortcom-ings with the society which created us.

If I have spoken so far in a negativetone, let me say that all is not hopeless.There are ways to improve our educationalsystem. Someone once said that we shouldknow the past lest we be condemned to repeatit. With this I agree; but for solutions wemust look beyond the horizons we have ex-plored to date.

First I believe we must better identifythe needs of children, Then we must helpthem to understand themselves, the societyin which they live and the contributions whichthey must make to it. We must create abasic education program which will provideeach child with the skills which will permithim to explore any field.

Focusing in on Vocational Education,we must determine its dimensions in oursociety. We must bring about a better under-standing of Vocational Education in the ghettosand we must open up job markets for thesepeople after they haw: been trained. We mustgain the support of labor unions which havea great influence on the numbers of people whoenter any given trade.

Somehow we must get large amountsof money from the *tete legislature for study,for experimentation and fer implementing ona broad scale Ideas of proven worth. ep tothe present I do not feel we have properly con-veyed to members of the legislature theurgency of our problems.

Within our schools we must eliminaterigid schedules and increase the amount ofself-directed activity of students. We must

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create new programs to meet their needs. Itis a fact that a large number of them are notreally learning within the existing framework.We must recognize that students do learn atdifferent rates of spew]; t/iat they do havevarying talents and that frequently they seelittle relationship between what happens inschool and the world in which they live.

I believe that at least a brief wordshould be said about the potential for meaning-ful educational programs outside the frame-work of the "establishment" to which I havereferred earlier. Business establishmentsand industrial laboratories represent excell-ent locations for purposeful learning activities.I believe also that we should find ways to tapthe tremendous reservoirs of "idea capital"which currently can be found in the worlds ofcommerce and industry. Outstanding menwith special talents should be brought intothe schools to teach students or share theirknowledge with teachers.

I believe we must take a serious lookat the training of teachers. In addition tolearning the subtleties of their subject matter,they must develop a scholarly understandingof the changing world in which they live. Forthose teachers presently in the classroom wemust release them from their intellectual andfunctional straight-jackets. We must assistthem to develop a rational understanding ofsocietal problems and to transcend the nem-dane trivia which is so much a part of publiceducation.

Referring back to Vocational Education,I believe it will be an increasingly significantsegment of our expanding educational structure.It will be necessary to close the gap which hasexisted between the academic community andthose who have worked in the schools. It isabsolutely essential to concern the scholarswith the whole subject of Vocational Educationand bring them into close contact with bh,sewho make policy and those who must put thatpolicy into effect.

The problems relating to improvingVocitiona) Educational programs are criticalbut we must move forward. The GermanPhilosopher, Lichtenburg, once said, "I don't

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know if changes will make things better, butthings won't get better without change."

1 am reminded of the physics professorwho was explaining the quantum theory to hisstudents. The first two times they failed tounderstand it. After the third explanation,

the professor urderstood it.Perhaps if we continue our conversa-

tions about educational problems, geaduallywe shall grow in our understanding of the pro-blems which we face aryl possible ways tosolve them.

TEACHER EDUCATIION

Ernest L. Minelli and Thomas M. Benton*

BUT READJUST WE MUST TEACHER EDUCATION

Some time ago a prominent scholar wrote:

The faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the princi-pal source of improvement . . . . Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man willbecome as stationary as that of the brutes. - - - Dugala Stewart.

Most of us are familiar with the tremendous rate of technological change which has occurredover the past decade. From the imaginative dreamers of yesterday have come the machines, gad-gets, and ideas that we depend so heavily upon today. For while the world of reality may be limited,the world of imagination is boundless.

Many new ideas are stillborn, andcountless others are ephemeral and perishwithout a trace. Some are only casual thoughts;others become cornerstones of faith. Some arebitterly resisted; others are welcomed. For

.

some the welcome comes early; for others itis tendered late.

Nevertheless, it is imperative for edu-cators to know what changes lie just over ourprofessional horizons and to be able to antici-pate how they will affect our lives and ourteaching. Obviously and most appropriatelywe must ask: Does change in education have adirection? If so, what is it, and is it likely tocontinue in the future? Can we plan for it?Can we prepare ourselves for the adjustmentsthat will come and must come, or do we con-stantly court the professional disaster oflosing all that each of us has worked for? Wecan arrive at such knowledge only if we canforsee a predictable and comprehensive pro-cess of change.

The biologist, physiologists, andpsychologists have by no means solved all theproblems of individual maturation. But theyhave led us to understand many of the me-chanisms of growth, and we can say withcertainty that the growth of an individual isan inevitable biological and psychologicalfunction. We are not nearly so certain, how-ever, about environmental change or the rea-sons it must come about.

True, in the United States we seem to becommitteed to a belief in inevitable progress.Our history supports this belief, for we haveunendingly produced more and often bettergadgets. But while many have hailed the firsthalf of the 20th century as the dawn of a brightnew era, for others the death of old forms oflife has brought disaster and the rapid changeshave left them bewilder :A and hurt. Eventhough we in this country are imbued with abelief in continual progress and convinced thatchange will make ours a better world, some of

*Dr. Mine lli is Chairman of the Department of Industrial Education, Central MichiganUniversity and Dr. Benton is Assistant Professor of Education, Central Michigan University.

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us have extreme doubts as to the wisdom ofmany of the changes that have taken place.Many feel that the changes are far from pro-gressive, but are instead rather chaotic" innature, make no sense, and actually have nodirection. Many correctly bemoan changeflr the sake of change; others are simply un-prepared to pay the price that progress ex-tracts. Everyone has had to react to changesin some way, but each of us has had constantlyto readjust his way of life and very often eventhe basic values by which he lives. Sometimesthese readjustments are pleasant; sometimesthey are unpleasant. But readjust we must

To meet this charge, there must be aconstant quest for imaginative thought, re-search, and developments aimed at improvingourselves and what is being taught in ourschools.

A democracy demands of its educationboth quantity and quality. With the challengeof quantity having largely been met, our at-tention must turn to improving quality, nowmore difficult than ever.

A superior educational program todaymay be an inferior program a decade fromnow -- unless bold, imaginative steps to im-prove upon that program are continuouslytaken. Today's failure to meet this challengemay very well perpetuate the status quo ratherthan lead to improvements or to the fulfillmentof the purpose of our secondary schools inthis 20th century. The breath-taking develop-ments of our technological revolution and ex-ploration of space can no longer be taken forgranted. Needless to say, knowledge has ex-panded tremendously and is continuing togrow at a prodigious rate. Obviously then,curriculum development, content, organiza-tion, educational practices, and teacher edu-cation cannot be based on static or retiredconcepts. There must be a constant quest forimaginative research and developments aimedat improving our programs and closing thegap between life and what is being taught inour schools. The late Frank Lloyd Wright,when asked by a reporter which of his manyworks he would select as his greatest, replied,

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"My next one. "James E. Russell, as secretary of

the Educational Policies Commission, addres-sing the opening general session of the Ameri-can Industrial Arts Association meeting inSt. Louis some years ago said, 'Educatorsmust be aware that the rise of national know-ledge plays a greater role now than at anytime in the past." He emphasized the impor-tance of teaching children to think. He wenton to say, "The force which is remaking .;ieworld is the rational intellect of men and theman who can earn his own dignity in the futurewill be the man who can use that force. "

Imagine within the next two decades,it is likely that we may be mining the aster-oids, traveling to and from Mars, and,through bioelectronics, giving new life tocrippled or diseased organs of the body. Wemay even change the character of a planet,and put education on a home-study basis.

Civilization is now at a period in his-tory which may be designated as the age ofautomation or that period introducing a newtechnology (incidentally its roots can betraced far back in our industrial history)heralded by some scientists as the secondindustrial revolution. While the first indus-trial revolution replaced animal and humanmuscle power with steam or electric-poweredmachines, automation used electronic devicesto replace human regulation and control ofmachines. It has changed the machine tenderinto a supervisor of an automatically con-trolled operating system. We have not, how-ever, replaced human creativeness, imagina-tion, nor purposefulness. This new techno-logical system is still subject to the instruc-tion and criteria man provides.

Turning now to the exploration ofspace, we find a second force with potentialequal to or even greater than that of auto-mation introducing new discoveries andtechnological advancements increasing at ex-ponential rates.

Until recently, man was hopelesslytrapped on his revolving planet. Today, hehas taken giant steps toward space travel,in fact has even walked in space. Less than

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ten years ago there was Sputnik I, followedwithin a month by Sputnik II and then, threemonths later, by our own Explorer I. Duringthis decade we shall probably land a man onthe moon.

In achieving this much and in pushingon toward the ultimate conquest of outer space,billions of manpower hours are spent annually.In the excitement of space travel we have alsolost sight of the many discoveries and down-to-earth applications of new materials, devices,and scientific principles uncovered in the fran-tic research now going on in rocketry. More-over, we have ignored their implications forvocational-technical education.

For roughly half of man's existenceon this planet, he has lived much like otheranimals and his existence was precarious.Man eventually achieved a dominant positionover all animals largely because he learnedto use and produce tools. Homo sapiens be-came in time homo faber, the maker of tools.

Next, the power-driven machine wasundoubtedly man's greatest achievement.Recognizing himself a puny source of motivepower, man creai`ed the machine. This hecreated in his imagination.

As the user of energy, man suppliedthe driving power for tools, mechanisms, anddevices which make up industrialization andpromote economic growth.

Finally, through the science of chem-istry, man has transformed matter to createan artificial world.1

The changes which have accompaniedthe evaluation of machines and technologyhave influenced the lives of all individualsand the functions which enterprise and socialinstitutions must discharge.

At this point, then, the question mightbe asked: What has this to do with education,or more specifically, vocational-technicaleducation? We believe, in view of what hasbeen said, that definite educational implica-tions have been defined and that, from this,we can make certain assumptions regardingthe demands that will be made upon the voca-tional-technical employee of tomorrow. First,he will be called upon to perform tasks which

are not feasible now and were unheard ofyesterday; second, he will be asked to supplyhimself with greater efficiency and dependa-bility than ever before; and third, he will beasked to adapt quickly and efficiently to com-pletely new tasks and positions of greaterresponsibility.

If this is true and if the schools havea responsibility for the educational prepara-tion of individuals who will enter vocational-technical occupations, what should be thenature of the educational program? Whatshould be the primary objectives of the schoolsin working with such youth? Through whatmeans is the individual prepared for a jobwhich may not yet exist? How is the individualgiven the increased applicability and adapta-bility so necessary to his effective functioningin a late 20th century technology?

Before finding solutions to these ques-tions perhaps one must first examine themeaning of vocational-education and its placein the secondary school. Speaking to thispoint, Marvin J. Feldman of The Ford Founda-tion said:

. . . vocational education at leastin part is that aspect of an educa-tional experience which helps aperson discover, define, and re-fine his talents, and to use themin working toward a career. Thisdefinition sees vocational educa-tion embracing, but not confinedto, development of manual skills;it sees such skills used not merelyto prepare for tasks, but as alter-natives or supplements to verbalskills in the entire learning pro-cess. The definition requires,regardless of tht educational level,an opportunity to learn and demon-strate learning in non-verbal ways,learning the relation between theeducational program and the pur-pose and nature of work, develop-ing a faculty for continuing growth,and the ability to work with2, notmerely alongside, others.

P.R.Alieller 1.4 +4

Secondary schools should be concernedwith curriculum development programs in voca-tional-technical education that are structuredto provide for teaching the concepts that willmore realistically lead to a full comprehensionof present-day technology and must provide thejob preparation or college specialization needsof our youth. The secondary school should af-ford students equal opportunities for fulfillingthel educational needs both as individuals andas members of a democratic society. Pro-grams are needed which challenge the fullrange of aptitudes, stimulate imaginativethought, and are significant for the success ofeach student.

We must demand programs whereimaginative research and experimentation arecommonplace and where rote skills play onlya limited part. And above all, we must avoidprograms which may result in a lack of generaleducation for the student or lead to an educa-tional dead-end.

More specifically, the educational ex-periences of the vocationally-technically dir-ected youngster should provide him with:

1. The general knowledge and basicskills necessary for initial entry into theworld of work, for successful occupationaladjustment, and for effective performanceof social and civic responsibility.

2. A sound basic education in thedisciplines vital to occupational performance.At a minimum, this should include English,math, science, and social studies. Under-standably, the depth of study within each ofthese areas will depend upon the ability ofthe student and the level of his occupationalaspirations.

3. The abilities and attitudes nec-essary to independent and group functioning,i. e. , self-direction, cooperation, acceptanceof responsibility, ability to weigh alternativesand make decisions, self-confidence, andother qualities of similar nature.

4. The ability to identify and isolatevocational-technical tasks, relate knowledgeand skills to the task, collect additional in-formation which may be necessary, and apply

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himself to the satisfactory solution of the task.5. Attitudes which reflect pride in and

rerpect for the world of work.

If these are to be the outcomes of oc-cupationally oriented programs, what must bethe nature of such programs? What principlesshould guide us in the organization of the cur-riculum, the design of facilities, the treatmentof pupils, and the use of teachers?

In our opinion, we must begin by plac-ing the pupil at the very center of the learningprocess. Around his needs and interests ob-jectives must be established and learning ex-periences designed. It is for the pupil that theschool exists and we must recognize this. Allaspects of the educational program must beadapted to and shaped by his growth and develop-ment. Meaningful learning is a product of andshould emanate from personal involvement ofthe student. He should be an active participantin the learning process, not a passive observer.Learning should stress "pupil doing" ratherthan "teacher doing." Programs of instruc-tion should foster experiments, research,exercises, and various opportunities for solv-ing many different types of problems as wellas project making. They should involve learn-ing experiences which stress logical and criti-cal thinking through the solution of problemswhich cut across subject lines.

The pupil should be allowed to progress-t his own rate. We should challenge andstimulate but not force. The able studentshould not sit idly nor should he engage inbusy-work. The less able should never beallowed to fall hopelessly behind while beingasked to perform at a pace far above his a-bility level. Through non-graded or continu-ous growth programs, together with learningexperiences geared to individual abilities,pupils can be assisted in progressing at theirown rates.

The pupil should be given a degree offreedom. If he is to pursue interests, learnat his own rate, develop self-direction, andlearn to function as an independent individualhe must be given the freedom to do so. Heshould be allowed to discover strengths and

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weaknesses, to fail, to succeed, and to ex-periment with a wide range of personal abili-ties. If he is to do this he must be freed, atleast for a part of the day, from the narrowand restrictive framework characteristic oftraditional systems.

If the pupil is to be free to "do," freeto pursue the satisfuction of individual needs,and free to progress at his own rate, then hislearning environment must provide for thisfreedom. This means that both the physicalfacility and time schedules should be flexible.Effective learning demands a varied use oftime. As the learner involves himself in edu-cational experiences, he should be allottedtime according to the demands of the activityand not according to some fixed schedulewhich breaks time into standard segments andallows no flexibility whatsoever. Too often,an idea is killed and enthusiasm is destroyedby the bell. Too often, meaningful activitiesare never initiated because it is realized thatthere is not enough time in the period. Toooften, a youngster is forced to sit ineffectuallythrough fifty minutes of math instruction hedoes not need when he desperately needs tospend this time in the study of English.Through the establishment of blocks-of-timeby means of modular or other forms of flex-ible scheduling, time can be better suited tcthe learning process.

The physical facility, too, should beflexible to the extent that it provides pupilmobility and easy access to all elements ofthe learning experience. The learner shouldbe free to pursue knowledge according to hisinterest and abilities and the physical environ-ment should facilitate this to the optimum de-gree; certainly it should not hinder learning.This suggests openness, movable partitionswhich easily create areas for large and smallgroup instruction and independent study, andthe availability of all necessary items ofequipment and materials. It suggests pupilmovement within this facility without unreason-able restriction. And, desirably, it suggeststhat the vocational-technical facility include,or be adjacent to, instructional personnel andresources of other essential disciplines --

math, science, English, and social studies.The treatment of subject matter must

be flexible. At any given level it must be a-dapted to the occupational, social, emotional,and psychological needs of the individual.Subject walls and grade restrictions must beremoved. Learning experiences should featureactivities which draw upon subject matter fromall fields, thereby integrating learning and pro-viding comprehension, retention, and facilityin doing so. Mitch of education today is, with-out doubt, disintegrative. In our eagerness toselect the basic essentials from the rapidlyaccumulating mass of knowledge, we have dis-sected, dehydrated, and filtered until all thatremains is a collection of isolated fragments.

And in our eagerness to transmit thesefragments to the pupil with dispatch and effici-ency, we have employed methods which relievethe pupil of all necessity for mental activity.He does not digest, evaluate, relate, reason,or decide. Rather, he accepts, memorizes,and regurgitates at the presentation of somecue, usually predetermined. Much of learningtoday is nothing more than a process of ac-cumulating a mass of meaningless fragmentswhich are presented in isolation and are re-tained in isolation, if they are retained at all.The student has been led to believe that learn-ing is to be retained only long enough to passan exam or to meet the requirements for adiploma. It is to be left within the walls ofthe school at the end of the day and by nostretch of the imagination is it to affect be-havior outside the classroom or be employedin the solution of practical problems.

If our schools are to provide theyoungster with an education which is compre-hensible, retainable, and applicable they mustexpose him to learning experiences whichestablish meaningful relationships between theindividual and various facets of his formaleducation and his world of work. This meansthat knowledge must be related to knowledge-- fact to fact, fact to skill, skill to concept,and each in turn to the total experience; know-ledge must be related to intimately familialpast experience; and knowledge must be re-lated to vocational-technical occupations and

occupational tasks appropriate to the individu-al's ability and interests. Through the estab-lishment of such relationships the individualsees meaning and purpose in education, he ismotivated to learn at his ability level, he at-tains and retains at a much higher level, andhe gains command and facility in relating andapplying his formal education to life outsidethe classroom

While subject matter must be kept flex-ible so that it might be suited to individualneeds, it must also give direction to the in-dividual. This implies three things: 1) thecurriculum must be shaped to the needs of theindividual in terms of his probable level ofvocational-technical function, 2) the programof education must be vertically articulatedfrom the beginning of vocational-technicalpreparation through and into employment, aid3) the program must provide a visible linkbetween the individual, his "port of entry, "and his ultimate goal within the world of work.

By suggesting that the curriculum beshaped to the occupational needs of the in-dividual, we do not propose a "watering down"of courses. Rather we propose a redesign ofeducational experiences more in keeping withthe needs and abilities of the individual andmore appropriate to the demands of vocational-technical occupations within the late 20thcentury. We must make a serious effort todetermine the skills and knowledge which willbe demanded at various levels of vocational-technical employment and from this we mustdetermine, classify, and state in measurableterms the specific objectives which will givedirection to the design of learning experiencesand serve as a basis for diagnostic evaluation.". . . all too frequently educational objectivesare stated as meaningless platitudes andcliches. "3 Within the recent past, seriousefforts have been made to provide a taxonomythrough which educational objectives can beclassified, stated in measurable terms, anddirected toward the attainment of speificpupil outcomes in cognitive, affective, andpsycho-motor domains.4 The employment ofthis technique not only gives direction to thedesign of learning experiences but focuses our

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attention on all domains essential to the edu-cation of the learner. In vocational-technicaleducation in particular, where we are some-times guilty of placing too much emphasis onthe development of psycho-motor skills at theexpense of the cognitive and affective domains,we must g: 'e more cttention to the identifica-tion of a complete and comprehensive list ofspecific objectives which give direction to hiseducational program and prepare him for ef-fective functioning as a member of America'swork force. Increasingly, we are recognizingthe importance of attitudes, interests, andvalues; and increasingly, we are recognizingthe importance of cognitive attainment in ef-fective occupational performance. A largershare of learning experiences must be direct-ed to the satisfaction of such needs.

Our failure to state comprehensivelists of specific measurable objectives has re-sulted in a tendency to engage pupils in learn-ing activities directed at the attainment ofnothing in particular. Without objectives toguide the design of learning experiences itstands to reason that there will be little dir-ection in the learning process. And this istrue: Much of education today -- especiallyfor the non-college bound youngster -- isnothing more than a hodgepodge of coursesdesigned to achieve the number of credits re-quired for graduation.

A persistent weakness in programs ofeducation, particularly those for youngstersdirected into vocational- technical occupations,has been the lack of vertical articulation be-tween the various stages of preparation. Evenwhere schools have made the effort to closethe gap and provide for easy movement fromone level to the next, they have done so onlywithin the program of formal education. Thegap between formal education and the worldof work has been left glaringly open. Thissituation can be attributed largely to the lackof communication and cooperation between theinstitutions and agencies directly concernedwith the vocational-technical preparation ofthe individual. Consequently, the curriculumdoes not provide an orderly transition frointhe classroom to the job or to programs of

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continuing development. Programs of voca-tional-technical education must be the productof continuing study and cooperative develop-ment between secondary schools, communityand/or technical colleges, institutions of highereducation, and business and industry. Onlythrough such efforts are we likely to providethe individual with programs of educationwhich are meaningful and effective from be-ginning to end.

Although the lack of a program whichhas been shaped to the needs of individuals interms of their probable occupational function-ing and one which has been properly articulat-ed vertically is a severe shortcoming withinitself, it is our feeling that another weaknessin present-day vocational-technical educationis the failure of many schools to offer thespecial kind of occupational n-fentation anddirection which is demande.1 ay many youth.Many youngsters fail to see any real purposein their educational program. Few see anyrelationship between the various subjects theytake and the occupational tasks they will per-form. Jobs or careers are only vague pro-mises which may or may not materialize.Many of. these youngsters are products ofbroken homes, homes from which there islittle encouragement, or homes which do littleto build aspirations and ambition. For manyof them, the only hope of motivation, of as-piration, is that the school might build a realand visible link between the individual and anoccupational future which is acceptable tohim. For some individuals, particularlythose from lower social levels, this must bea very personal link. Such individuals mayneed to know that there are specific occupa-tions and careers available to them. Theymay need an intimate familiarity with a speci-fic job and its demands. They may need toknow that their formal education, sul.'ect bysubject, is necessary to the attainment andperformance of a job. And they may needassurance that the school and its teacherswill be with them all the way in the attainmentof satisfactory employment. This is not to saythat all individuals must have this very per-sonal assurance, nor is it to suggest that

individuals should be identified and lockedinto a vocational track in separate, specialtype schools leading to a specific job. It isto say that personal identification with acareer and the knowledge that his formal edu-cation is a vital factor to satisfactory adjust-ment within that career is highly motivationalfor many youngsters. And where they under-achieve, schools must somehow provide thismotivational link. Study trips, industrial orlansin9ss internships, and other techniqueswhich provide meaningful personal experienceare particularly valuable in building aspira-tions and in visibly relating the individual tothe world of work.

Finally, it is worth repeating thatstudents should not be locked into highlystructured vocational tracks in separate,special type schools. Curricula should pro-vide appropriate balance and relationship be-tween the vocational-technical programs andthe general education program. The tendencyshould be toward including broad ramificationsof the subject with emphasis on basic princi-ples and concepts. No longer can there becomplete satisfaction in exploration of theknown -- educational experiences in ourschools must reflect adventures in the un-known likewise. Today, with the vast andrapid accumulation of knowledge, no longer isit desirable to teach isolated facts and know-ledge. Knowledge must be organized in sucha manner as to show the relationship of eachfact to the total experience. An organizedstudy must categorize understandings ratherthan categorize isolated facts. Concentrationupon the acquisition of concepts rather thanemphasis on specifics should be our goal.This approach to learning is sound.

In looking at the tasks of education andin describing educational programs appropri-ate to these tasks, we have gained consider-able insight into the nature of the teachingprocess and, more specifically, the nature ofthe teacher himself. If he is to be effectivein working with individuals who will enter alate 20th century work force, we believe theteacher must have the special attitudes andabilities outlined below.

First, the teacher must be a highlycapable person. He must be mature, in-telligent, insightful, and ingenious. He mustbe a professional, committed to the task ofeducating America's youth in the face of anexploding population, the fight for freedom,and an everchanging future. There can belittle doubt that the teacher is the most vitalcog in the learning process. While buildings,equipment, curriculum organization, andother factors are important, none is moreimportant than the teacher. 'Institutions aremade up of people, and it is the behavior ofteachers in the classroom that will finallydetermine whether or not our schools meetor fail to meet the challenge of our times. "°

The teacher must he pupil oriented.He must place the pupil in the "center ring"and his every effort must be cErected to thetotal development of the individual. Thismeans that he must give attention to the social,emotional, and physical as well as the intellec-tual and occupational growth of the pupil. Theteacher n..:st be aware of and concerned withindividual differences and he must provide forprogress at individual rates. He must gearinstruction to individual needs, challengingand enriching the life of the superior, pro-viding constructive experiences for the aver-age, and offering encouragement to those oflow ability. He must stimulate the under-achiever and build aspirations where noneexist, and he must accept responsibility forand be capable of giving guidance and counsel-ing where such needs are not otherwise beingmet.

The teacher must be skilled in theidentification of specific measurable object-ives in keeping with the needs of the individualwithin a highly complex and rapidly changingtechnological society, in designing and direct-ing meaningful, comprehensive, and motiva-tional learning experiences appropriate to theattainment of these objectives, and in theaccurate evaluation of pupil progress andteaching effectiveness. To identify pupilobjectives he must have a thorough knowledgeof the individual -- his behavioral patterns,his needs, his maturity level, factors whichcontribute to the development of self-concept

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and other social and cultural factors whichaffect his motivation and attainment. Also,the teacher must be thoroughly familiar withoccupations and the educational demands ofsuch. Through such knowledge the teacher isbetter able to determine the specific skills,attitudes, and understandings necessary tothe success of the individual.

To design and direct appropriate edu-cational experiences, the teacher must have athorough knowledge of educational psychologyand the theories of learning. He must have aknowledge of the instructional value of variousforms of educational media and be capable ofusing a wide variety of such items in class-room instruction. This includes: printedmaterials, resource persons, environmentalresources, audio-visual materials, teachingmachines, programmed materials, electronicretrieval devices, t.nd other materials of asimilar nature. The teacher must be familiarwith various techniques of grouping pupils formaximum effectiveness, such as large group--small group, heterogeneous and homogene-ous groups, independent study in individual orgrouped situations, and in ungraded or con-tinuous growth systems. If the teacher is toskillfully select instructional materials, in-structional approaches, physical settings,and grouping arrangements and blend these intoa meaningful learning experience, he must notoverlook his personal role as the key elementwithin the learning process. Teaching is ex-tremely personal and the teacher must selecthis materials and methods with this in mind.He must be fully aware of his strengths andweaknesses as he designs the learning ex-perience. Combs speaks to this point whenhe says:

A good teacher is first and fore-most a person, and this fact is themost important and determiningthing about him. He has competence,to be sure, but not a common set ofcompetencies like anyone else . . .

each (teacher) stands out as a person,an individual, some for one reason,some for another. Each . . . (has)his own peculiar methods, values,

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and techniques. Good teaching islike that, an intensely personalthi4.

If the teacher is to be effective he mustwork with precision. Occupational tasks arebecoming more complex and more demanding.More is expected of the employee than everbefore and if the schools are to live up totheir responsibility, teachers must performwith a much higher degree of efficiency. Theymust become instructional specialists, per-sons who can analyze instructional situations,prescribe specific techniques, and employthese techniques with great precision.

The teacher must have the ability tofunction effectively-under a variety of cir-cumstances in highly flexible and constantlychanging instructional settings. The trendis away P.om the one-teacher, one-subject,one-room, one-period concept. The air-tight compartments are being broken down."Canned courses" based on the ground-to-be-covered concept are disappearing. Schedulesand physical facilities are being made in-creasingly flexible and in many schools thesystem of bells has already been discarded.Grade Larriers are being removed and pupilsare allowed greater opportunity to movewithin subjects at their own pace. Pupils aregiven much greater frcedom to learn forthemselves and to pursue special interests.Teachers work cooperatively in the planningand direction of learning experiences whichcut across subject lines and integrate learn-ing. The school doors are being opened aspupils venture into the real world of businessand industry and relate formal education topractical life. Indeed, the teacher of thefuture must be pliable and capable of workingeffectively in a wide variety of instructionalsituations.

Not only must the teacher have thecapacity to adjust to changing demands, hemust be an agent of change. He must beaware of the times. He must be in the fore-front of technological advancement, changingoccupational needs, and the implications ofsuch for education. He must suggest new

directions, initiate new programs, and sus-tain a continuing effort to evaluate and re-design learning experiences in terms ofchanging times.

If teachers of vocational-technical edu-cation are to develop the abilities and attitudesoutlined above, our programs of teacher edu-cation must change, and change significantly.It is our belief that programs of the futurewill embody such features as the following:

1. Greater selectivity. Programs ofteacher education must be more selective.We must establish minimum standards anddevise and apply screening techniques whichpermit entry only to those individuals havingthe potential to become truly professionalteachers. Such selectivity will necessitatethe finding of ways to attract larger numbersof people having this potential and it will de-mand a more efficient use of those available.

2. An extended and balanced curricu-lum. The curriculum must be extended to pro-vide an appropriate balance and relationshipamong professional, liberal, and special sub-jects. Frequently there has been a lack ofliberal and professional experience to com-plement vocational experience in the prepara-tion of vocational-technical teachers. To knowhis subject is not enough. The teacher of thefuture must have a thorough knowledge of edu-cational and adolescent psychology; he musthave a sound academic education within theareas of science, math, English, politicalscience, sociology, economics, and othersubjects directly related to the world of work;and he must have learning experiences whichdevelop self-direction, logical and criticalthinking, and the efficient use of knowledge insolving environmental tasks. Only througha broad-based, well-rounded education willthe teacher of the future be effective in design-ing and guiding pupils through learning ex-periences which equip them for the complexand changing world they face.

3. An individualized program. Teach-er education curricula should provide flexibleand individualized programs of study adaptedto individual competencies and special needs

of students.4. An all-university approach which

coordinates, articulates, and correlates in-struction. The teacher is a product of thetotal university and his preparation should bethe result of a coordinated, cooperative effortwhich begins with the identification of teachercompetencies and draws upon the total re-sources of the institution in achieving the de-sired outcomes. The individual's preparationshould be vertically articulated so as to pro-vide a smooth transition from the secondaryschool, through pre-service preparation, andinto the early years of teaching. And, per-haps more importantly, the individual shouldhave an integrating, unifying learning experi-ence. Rigid subject barriers must be brokendown and instruction must be correlatedthrough an interdisciplinary approach.

5. The development of precise instruc-tional skills through laboratory experiences.Much of the professional methodology of theteacher should be developed within a labora-tory setting which provides opportunities forintimate personal involvement with all aspectsof the teaching-learning process and facilitatesthe development of individual teaching com-petencies. Among other things, a well-equipp-ed, flexible laboratory will greatly facilitatethe development of skill in:

a. Theidentification of measur-able objectives which reflectpupil needs in the psychomotor,affective, and cognitive domains.

b. The design and use of instruc-tional techniques through individu-al and group experimentation witha wide variety of materials, equip-ment, physical arrangements,time schedules, pupil groupings,approaches to cooperative teach-ing and planning, and otherfactors which affect learning.

c. The selection and application ofprecise instructional techniqueswhich initiate specific pupilresponses and are effective inthe attainment of specific objec-tives. Through the use of clinical

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approaches which employ suchtechniques as micro-teaching,verbal and nonverbal interaction,instructional paradigms, andsimilar methods it is possibleto break down the seeminglycomplex act of teaching; and,in so doing, we can concentrateon the development of specificand precise instructional skills.The use of electronic devicesmakes possible not only expertanalysis and prescription butself-appraisal as well.

d. The diagnostic evaluation of pupilprogress and teaching effective-ness with immediate opportuni-ties for the redesign of learningexperiences.

6. Full-time, on-the-job teachinginternships. While the employment of clinicalapproaches will provide experiences valuablein the development of instructional skills, theprospective teacher should have at least twoon-the job internships under actual conditions.These experiences should be especially select-ed according to the needs of the individualand should be supervised by practicing pro-fessionals.

7. Full-time, on-the-job work e).-periences. Teacher preparation programs invocational-technical education should providefor an intimate, up-to date knowledge of theworld of work. This is especially importantfor those individuals with limited vocationalexperiences. Through vocational internshipsor similar means the teacher can keep him-self informed with regard to the trends, pro-cesses, and changing conditions within hisarea of specialization.

8. Continuing programs of in-serviceeducation in cooperation with and suited to theneeds of a particular school or school system.Programs of teacher education must place agreater emphasis upon the continuing cdt!ca-don of teachers, and, with the diversity ofinstructional approaches employed by schoolsacross the country, such programs must beoffered in cooperation with and suited to the

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unique needs of a particular school or schoolsystem. As complex and varied as is theteaching process today, teachers cannot beproperly prepared within a four or even fiveyear program foLowed by a sprinkling of ad-ditional courses taken periodically throughoutthe individual's career. And they cannot beprepared on university campuses completelyisolated from the schools in which they teachand the work-world for which they preparepupils. Programs of in-service educationmust go into the schools and into the world ofwork, they must be planned programs of con-tinuing education, they must be designed trmeet the needs of a particular group of teach-ers determined by the instructional programthey offer, and they must be provided throughthe joint efforts of all agencies directly con-cerned.

0. A cooperative partnership betweensecondary schools, community colleges, busi-ness and industry, and the institutions of teach-er preparation. The job of teacher preparationtoday is too big and too complex for the teacherpreparatory institutions alone. The educationof the teacher must be articulated, correlated,extended beyond the confines of the campus,

and continued throughout his career. A mean-ingful and realistic teacher preparation will bepossible only through a concerted, cooperativeeffort of all theso agencies.

Indeed, the teacher of the future mustbe a new breed --

. . . capable of shiftingand changing to meet the demandsand opportunities afforded in dailytasks. Such a teacher will not be-have in a set way. His behaviorwill change from moment to mo-ment, from day to day, adjustingcontinually and smoothly to theneeds of his students, the situationshe is in, the purposes he seeks tofulfill, and the methods and ma-terials at his command.7

If cultural, social, philosophical, andtechnological changes in our society make itimperative that innovation and change takeplace and if change and improvements are tobe accomplished, teacher education wouldseem to hold the key. But, actually, this canonly be true if readjust it does.

FOOTNOTES

'Francis R. Allen and Delbert C. Miller, et. al., Technology and Social Change (NewYork: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1957), pp. 245-249.

Marvin J. Feldman, Making Education Relevant (New York, The Ford Foundation, 1966),p. 5.

3 David R. Krathwohl, Benjamin S. Bloom, and Bertram B. Masia, Taxonomy of EducationalObjectives: Handbook II: Affective Domain (New York: David McKay Company, Inc. , 1964), p. 4.

4Ibid., pp. 1-193.Benjamin S. Bloom (ed.). , Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook I: Cognitive

Domain (New York: David McKay Company, Inc. , 1956).Robert F. Mager, Preparing Instructional Objectives (Palo Alto, California: Fearon

Publishers, Inc. , 1962).Arthur W. Combs, The Professional Education of Teachers (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. ,

1965), p. v.6 Ibid. , p. 6.I--Ibid. , p. 9.

James J. Hammond'

REACTION

"But Readjust We Must. -" is a comprehensive and objective presentation of the factorsaffecting both vocational education and vocational teacher education. In their paper, "Directed atChange in Teacher Education" authors Minelli and Benton leave no doubt about the need for change.They advocate newer practices and procedures which, If adopted, would certainly improve thequality of teactier education. They list forces requiring change such as the knowledge explosion,automation, extensive and unique discoveries associated with out-of-space developments, theemphasis in occupations on knowledge rather than muscle power and psychomotor skill.

One might point up the thrust of theauthors' presentation by paraphrasing a para-graph. Does change in vocattontil teacher edu-cation have a divection? If so, what is it, andis it likely to continue in the future? Can weplan for it? The authors challenge vocationalteacher educators to prepare for adjustmentsthat are inevitable. They dare to propose forvocational schools greater emphasis on cogni-tive and affective domains as well as an ade-quate amount of the psychomotor. They makea strong case for changes in curriculum,method, organization and a faculty which willmore fully recognize the needs, purposes andInterests of students in vocational schools.

The authors refer to a new breed ofvery capable, imaginative, creative vocationalteachers whose principal characteristics areresourcefulness and versatility, who recognisethe centrality of the student in the learningprocess, the need to facilitate freedom andflexibility in program, schedule, courseboundaries, and facilities and, who adjustcontent and methods to the needs and interestsof their students.

Miuelli and Benton outline the specialattitudes and abilities which, in their belief,the vocational teacher of tomorrow mustpossess. The list is comprehensive and im-pressive although overwhelming. All thequalities listed are highly desirable but itwould be unrealistic to expect that the modelpresented could be supplied in sufficientnumbers to staff the nation's vocationalschools. Even with the proposed high level ofselectivity where, hopefully it would be poss-ible to screen out all but those who have thepotential to become "master" teachers, thegoal is overly idealistic. The authors arequite realistic though, in their proposal of ateam composed of para-professionals alongwith a "master" teacher, This proposal ap-peArs to have considerable potential. It is avery practical and challenging thought that theconcept oi teacher assistants, technicians, oradjunct instructors could be applied voca-tional teaching. Certainly a group of crafts-men, each of whom would possess a particularbody of technical skills and knowledge essentialto the kinds of experiences in which students

Dr. Hammond is President, State College at Fitchburg, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

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and faculty would be involved could make aneffective teaching team. These team memberscould be prepared to analyze instructionalsituations, prescribe specific techniques anddemonstrate the application of those techniqueswith dexterity and precision. Another memberof the team should be a person well preparedin the theory and the utilization of instruction-al media. This team should be skilled inindividualizing instruction, concerned with thetotal development of students and give dueemphasis to the social emotional and physicalconsiderations as well as the intellectual andoccupational growth of students.

The problem of vocational teacherselection Is of long standing. In 1912, CharlesA. Prosser in his annual report to the Boardof Education stated: ". . The problem of thetraining of teachers calls for serious considera-tion."

"What seems to be needed is some way,or ways, whereby the teacher with largescholastic preparation may be induced to securethe acquaintanceship with industry necessary tosuccessful teaching In industrial schools; andalso whereby the skilled workman may obtainthe knowledge of technical subjects and theskill in imparting instruction which he lacks.Suitably equipped tenhers for State-aidedscnools are difficult to secure. In the nearfuture some method of systematic training ofteachers should be provided."

"Experience shows that the best re-sults in vocational education are secured whenthe teacher has had the same kind of experi-ence as that for which he is preparing thepupil. Abstract and theoretical instruction,whatever may be its worth in other kinds ofeducation, is of very little value In the trainingof the students with whom the State-aidedschools deal. Such students learn largely bydoing, and they have the ability to graspmethods and principles best when these aretaught, them through the applications which thework in the school shop, or in the day employ-ment of the worker, makes possible . . . ."

At one time collegiate preparation ofteachers of vocational education was consider-ed inappropriate, If not consistent. The

greatest emphasis was laid upon the trade,occupational or industrial experience. Cer-tainly proficiency in the requirements of theoccupational field ranked high on the list ofessential competencies. Invariably suchcompetencies have been obtained through workexperience. The number of years of experi-ence it takes to obtain adequate competencyis a moot point. It is also debatable that suchexperience must be acquired prior to profess-ional and liberal studies being undertaken.There is considerable evidence of the meritsof a cooperative plan of work experience andteacher education superimposed on a programof general education.

In 1938 Thomas L. Norton, in hisbook Education for Work wrote the following:

"In the early days of the industrialeducation program it was necessary for voca-tional industrial educators to assume the taskof training teachers; but this program is notin its infancy, nor is it an unchartered field. . . Its importance would warrant equalstatus with other types of teacher trainingI I"

He went on to state that, "professionaltraining in the field of vocational adjustmentshould be given in approved institutions,either public or private. It would seem thatthe important consideration is not whether thetraining is given in a public or private install-

but rather whether the work is being doneeffectively. For this reason, the programshould not be restricted to, say, public institu-tions."

He further stated that, "one provisionshould be the requirement of apprenticeshipteacher training as a definite part of the pro-gram."

A report taken from the IndustrialTeacher Education Directory of 1966 revealsthat approximately 70 percent of the statedepartments of vocational education havedelegated the responsibility for trade andindustrial teacher education to one or morecolleges or universities within their respectivestates. In about 25 percent of these casesstate department personnel also participatedIn the teacher education program. Usually the

collegiate teacher education program, atleast in trade and industrial education, isrestricted to courses in professional educa-tion and in general education.

The concept that the preparation af ateacher is an all college responsibility iswidely accepted. The predominant programis an integral part of higher education. Theusual program is designed to facilitate aneffective merger of the general and profession-al aspects of education. Probably the mostimportant characteristic is a built-in provis-ion for continuous, vigorous criticism, acondition which is apt to prevail in an institu-tion where scholars representing a varietyof dynamic disciplines are engaged in teach-ing, research and experimentation.

If vocational teacher education is toenjoy equal status with all other teacher edu-cation programs it should be assigned to acollege or university. Obviously the institu-tion would be expected to have on its staffcompetent scholars in the several aspectsof vocational education. The vocationalcurriculum must correspond with that of otherteacher education curricula with some of thecourses enrolling majors from other fieldsas well as majors in vocational education.The concept cf vocational teacher educationshould aim at the preparation of well roundedstudents of education rather than well trainedtechnicians. Professional courses should berooted in psychology, biology, sociology andphilosophy and should be at least interrelatedwith a sound general education program.Vocational teachers need general educationas much as do majors of other fields. Theprogram should be more than a series ofintroductory courses in established disciplines.Courses strJuld aim at the conceptualizationof basic principles, major contemporaryissue', noteworthy events and great achieve-ments. Vocational teachers should have anacquaintance with great scholars in the sciencesand humanities as well as with the leaders ofgovernment and industry. The curriculumshould contain a good measure of laboratorycourses in the physical and natural sciences,a solid background In mathematics and some

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concentration in the social and behavioralsciences as well as thorough preparation inthe technical skills and knowledge of the fieldof specialization. Hopefully, the vocationalteacher would be well informed about thoseaspects of the history of technology, of labor,economics, and of government which haveshaped the direction and the character ofmodern technology and culture.

The vocational teacher must be pre-pared to organize a program around conceptswhich will lead his students to a full compre-hension of present day technology. The learn-ing experiences should feature activities whichdraw upon content from all subject matterfields, thereby integrating learning and pro-viding both comprehension and retention.Emphasis should be given to the developmentof those interests and abilities that will enablethe student to continue to grow, to learn byhimself in whatever activity he may be engaged.There are abilities and skills generally usefulin all fields of endeavor and largely transfer-able from one to another. The ability to per-ceive and solve problems, to deal with peopleeffectively, to organize resources, and towork wholeheartedly is essential to successin teaching.

The authors wit,ely stress the need fora program of continuing education for voca-tional teachers. In-service education is anessential up-dating process for all teachersbut, because of the dynamic character oftechnoVgy and occupations, it is Imperativethat those who teach in vocational programskeep posted on the changes that take place inmaterials, equipment, processes and pro-cedures. Otherwise the occupational prepara-tion of the school could be Invalidated. Voca-tional edecators need no prodding on thispoint. It has been a policy In most states toprovide in-service institutes clinics andsummer courses for such purposes. Voca-tional leaders also encourage or may evenrequire that teachers obtain summer employ-ment in order to learn newer practices aswell as to maintain their status as craftsmen.It is also essential that the "master" teacherrefresh himself periodically with the latest in

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child study, motivation, instructional practicesand curriculum patterns.

It is fascinating to try to visualize thetype of physical facility that would accommo-date both the variety of experiences and thekind of flexibility proposed by the author. Thesuggested pupil mobility with easy access toall elements of the learning situation indicatesopen areas with movable partitions. The equip-ment should probably not be highly specializedsince the program will be in a state of flux.There will probably be a core of equipmentsuitable for the performance of basic processeswhich may change in technique but not principle.The physical plant might well resemble amodern factory with a design area, laborator-ies and production facilities, along with class-room and instructional media centers.

The most effeW ve plan of teacher edu-cation for vocational teachers has not yet beendiscovered. There are still many unresolvedissues about what makes a good vocationalteacher even though it is well established thathe must possess a variety of competencies.In the final analysis vocational education willbe as good as those who teach it. It wouldseem advisable to place the responsibilityfor such a complicated and critical assignmentwith the colleges and universities who have thespecialized resources and the experience tocope with it.

Jacob J. Kaufman°

CONCLUDING STATEMENT

As indicated in the Introduction the purpose of the seminar and discussions was basicallyto bring together representatives from the various social and behavioral sciences, from the variouseducational disciplines, and other interested persons in order to determine the broad areas ofagreement among them and which would assist in the development of a vocational and technical pro-gram for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It is the purpose of this chapter toattempt to summarize the papers and discussionnot only for the purpose of listing the issuesbut also for the purpose of setting forth thegeneral consensus. If there was one area ofconsensus it was simply the need to develop aneducational curriculum which would meet thebroad occupational needs and interests of theyouth, particularly those enrolled in the sec-ondary schools. It is quite apparent that theseneeds are not being met. It is also apparentthat curricula must be more consistent withthe findings of the various social and behavioralsciences.

In an historical view of vocational edu-cation some emphasis was placed on the dif-ferences in the views of various vocationaleducators of the role of the Vocational Educa-tion Act of 1963. Some persons viewed itsimply as a financial vehicle by which the"starved" curriculum could be expanded.Others saw the legislation as a means by whichnew areas or skills could be develo:oed. Yet,still others saw it as a grand opportunity toformulate new curricula to meet the needs andinterests of a large group of students who hadbeen Ignored by the teachers and administrators

of the academic and vocational curricula. Thislatter group of students -- its size has beenestimated to Include about fifty percent of thesecondary students -- have been called "grayarea" students. Basically, they represent agroup of youngsters who find the curriculumoffered them in school totally irrelevant totheir experiences.

Will the new amendments to the Voca-tional Education Act of 1963 charge the educa-tors with greater responsibilities for thisgroup? Will the Commonwealth of Massachu-setts, with its resources, allocate its funds Ina manner which will truly provide youngsterswith equal educational opportunity?

The real issue, however, is the de-velopment of an appropriate curriculum. Thepsychologist suggests that education should beconcerned with behavioral objectives, that is,what "we want the learner to be able to do atthe end of an educational experience." It isonly with such objectives in mind can thedecision be made as to what is to be taught.This is where vocational education might, inthe judgment of the psychologist, make asignificsnt contribution. It is desirable tomake educational experiences relevant not only

*Dr. Kaufman is Director of the Institute for Research on Human Resources, ThePennsylvania State University and Co-director of the Massachusetts Study on Vocationaland Technical Education.

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to a youngster's previous experiences but alsoto his probable later-life requirements.

A significant question to be raised atthis point is whether educators, in general,and vocational educators, in particular, areequipped to translate the implications of be-havioral objectives in education into specificcurricula. It would appear, from the discus-sion, equipped or not, vocational educationdoes have the potential. The only question iswhether it will seize the opportunity.

The sociologist in the discussionattempted "to examine vocational educationfrom a sociological perspective and Co under-line what efforts need be undertaken to makethe world of work more viable and to matchthe pace of social change." The desirabilityof approaching vocational education from thispoint of view becomes clear as we recognizethat vocational education has failed to keeppace, regardless of whether the failure wascaused from within or without.

From the point of view of an economist,serious consideration was given to the proposi-tion that in the decision-making process con-sideration must be given to both costs andbenefits. No cost is ton low or too high unlessconsidered in relationship to benefit. No bene-fit is "good" or 'bad" unless considered inrelationship to cost. It was emphasized thatthe economist can assist the voeatIonal edu-cator in the decision-making process, giventhe fact that the educator is always workingwith limited resources. The economist canassist the educator by "his knowledge of thecomplex inter-relationships that characterizean economic system . . . , and his analyticalapparatus for arriving at decisions amongalternatives."

The paper of the economist exploresat length the various issues involved in costbenefit analysis. An illustration is providedin the area of school dropouts. Considerationis also given to the various factors involved inthe decision of skill development betweenschool or at work. Finally, considerable dis-cussion is devoted to the question of the re-lationship between the manpower forecasterand decisions for vocational education. Here

the inherent difficulties in this relationship areexplored.

In the area of manpower, in which voca-tional educators have always expressed greatinterest, it was pointed out that educationalrequirements for jobs have tended to be part ofa developing "credentialism" rather than speci-fic educational experience. Reference is madeto the point that the extent to which "completed

iucation" is desirable, then educational pro-grams should be examined in terms of their"holding power" which would yield a credentialin the form of a diploma.

It is noted that the relationship betweentechnological changes and educational require-ments is more complicated than is usually re-ported. Research indicates that jobs at a so-called "middle" level call for education whichis "higher-than-needed." In fact, one maydiscover that as the labor market becomestighter, educational requirements may belowered.

With respect to the argument that em-ployers require better-educated persons notfor the "entry" job but for future promotionalopportunities, research does not necessarilybear out this argument. For this reason it Issuggested that vocational educators conductmore research of the work-life history ofvocational education graduates.

The implications of this analysis ofeducational requirements on the job are seri-ous, as they raise a fundamental question ofeducating (or training) youth in schools alongspecialized skill lines. It is also suggestedthat there is considerable need to work withemployers and provide adequate guidance foryoungsters.

Along what lines should guidance beprovided? Should it be one in which 'Informa-tion" is provided the youth and in which theyouth are Afirected" to occupations for whichthem is high employer demand? On the con-trary, the major emphasis of the guidancepeople is on assisting youth in arriving at hisown decision, on the basis of a self-analysis.It also requires an introduction to situationsand information related to life in school andin the adult world. The main point is that

guidance should be permissive and non-pre-scriptive.

If the conclusions of these various be-havioral scientists are valid, and indeed theconsensus of the seminar was that they werevalid, what are the implications for curricul-um, educational administration, and teachertraining?

In one paper It was suggested that eachstudent should receive a basic education nec-essary for occupational preparation. But keep-ing a youngster in school does not guaranteethat learning takes place. It must be recognizedthat students have different learning styles andIt is noted that there have been several newcurricula developed which are "experiencecentered." In order to inform youth about"the world of work" reference is made to vari-ous junior high school programs which createjob "awareness" rather than Job "sldlls." Infact, some reference is made to certain pro-grams of this type in the elementary schools.

It was pointed out that the new programswould probably have less emphasis on vocation-al education at the secondary level and inc.vas-ed emphasis at the post-secondary level. Itis also suggested that there should probably beincreased attention paid to training for "clus-ters" as distinguished from specific skills.

If this is to be the new direction forvocational education what are the prospectivesto achieve change? Are the curriculum de-velopment specialists and the educationaladministrators ready for this change?

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The paper by the educational adminis-trator urges the vocational educator to recog-nize many of our urban ills and to develop theappropriate curriculum that will provid-i anentry into society by the poor. It was suggest-ed that vocational educator] have becomeisolated from the educational and social main-land, for reasons which are both external andinternal to vocational education. Here, too,the idea of an "experience-centered" educationis being recommended. It is urged that edu-cational administrators strengthen their workwith research and adopt new values and skills.Such administrators must diffuse the resultsof new programs and seek their adoption whentheir results are positive.

It wgld appear that educational admin-istrators are .:onfined to routine administrativeduties and ignore activities which result Inchange. But can such changes take place with-out new directions in teacher education?

The paper on teacher education stressedthe need to develop teacher education programswhich are carried on in the same manner inwhich they should be carried on In the schools.Thus, the changes suggested in curriculum invocational education would call for drasticchanges in the institutions for teacher educa-tion.

The paners and discussions in this re-port can provide the broad framework aroundwhich the Commonwealth of Massachusetts candevelop a vocational, or occupational, trainingprogram designed to meet the needs of youth.

Mr. Paul Ahern, PresidentVocational Counselors Assn.Greater Lawrence Vocational SchoolRiver StreetAndover, Massachusetts

Mr. Michael Alleyne237 North Harvard StreetAllston, Massachusetts 02134

Dr. James W. Altman, DirectorInstitute for Performance TechnologyAmerican Institute for Research

Mrs. Nancy AtwoodResearch AnalystAdministration and FinanceCommonwealth of MassachusettsRoom 909State Office Building100 Cambridge StreetBoston, Massachusetts

Dr. MacDonald BarrJoint Center for Urban Studies66 Church StreetCambridgeM. I. T. and Harvard University

Dr. Rhoda W. BaruchAssistant Professor of EducationHarvard University

Dr. Thomas M. BentonAssistant Professor of EducationCentral Michigan University

Dr. Ivar BergGraduate School of BusinessColumbia University

PART IC I PANTS

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Dr. lary Jean BowmanComparative Education CenterUniversity of Chicago

Dr. Theodore BrameldProfessor of EducationBoston University

Dr. John E. DeadySuperintendent of SchoolsSpringfield, Massachusetts

Dr. William Dwyer, PresidentBoard of Community CollegesState HouseBoston, Massachusetts

Mr. Robert FlanaganGeneral Dynamics CorporationQuincy Division97 Howard StreetQuincy, Massachusetts

Dr. Nathaniel H. FrankProfessor of PhysicsM. I. T.

Mr. Edmond P. Garvey, PresidentSpringfield Technical Community CollegeArmory SquareSpringfield, Massachusetts

Dr. Richard A. GibboneyVisiting Professor of EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania

Dr. Neal GrossProfessor of Education and SociologyHarvard University

Dr. Arthur Haley, PresidentMt. Wachusett Community CollegeElm StreetGardner, Massachusetts

Dr. James J. HammondPresidentFitchburg State College

Dr. Morris A. HorowitzProfessor and ChairmanDepartment of EconomicsNortheastern University

Dr. Jacob J. Kaufman, DirectorInstitute for Research on Human ResourcesThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, Pennsylvania

Mrs. 0. B. Kistiakowsld, ChairmanEducation CommitteeLeague of Women Voters31 Hudson StreetCambridge, Massachusetts

Mr. Ohernut Knox, Senior SupervisorMassachusetts Department of EducationVocational Education ResearchOlympia AvenueWoburn, Massachusetts

Dr. Vincent LamleAssociate ProfessorEducational HistoryNew York University

Dr. Morgan LewisInstitute for Research on Human ResourcesThe Pennsylvania State University411 Boucke BuildingUniversity Park, Pennsylvania

Mr. Walter Markham, DirectorBureau of Vocational EducationState Department of Education182 Tremont StreetBoston, Massachusetts

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Dr. Frank Marsh, DeanSchool of EducationNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts

Mr. Paul MarshEducational ConsultantArthur D. Little CompanyCambridge, Massachusetts

Dr. Anita L. MartinConsultant in Human Relations98 Ism LaneWeston, Massachusetts

Mr. James McDonough, PresidentVocational School Directors' AssociationGirls Trade High School66 The FenwayBoston, Massachusetts

Dr. Earnest MinelliChairman of Department of Industrial EducationCentral Michigan University

Dr. John O'NeillAssociate Cornmiss'oner of EducationState Department of Education182 Tremont StreetBoston, Massachusetts

Mrs. Robert P. PinckneyMember of the State Education CommitteeLeague of Women Voters101 Newport StreetArlington, Massachusetts

Dr. Michael J. PioreAssistant ProfessorDepartment of EconomicsM.I. T.

Dr. Robert E. PruittSuperintendent of SchoolsQuincy Public Schools70 Coddington StreetQuincy, Massachusetts

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Mr. Roger PutnamMassachusetts Board of Regional

Community Collegesdo Package Machinery CompanyEast Longmeadow, Massachusetts

Dr. Urwin Rowntree, DirectorAdult, Vocational & Library ProgramsU.S. Regional Office of EducationRoom 1309-AJ. F. Kennedy BuildingBoston, Massachusetts

Dr. Carl J. Schaefer, ChairmanDepartment of Vocational-Technical EducationGraduate School of EducationRutgers - The State UniversityNew Brunswick, New Jersey

Dr. Benjamin Shimberg, DirectorVocational EducationThe Educational Testing ServicePrinceton, New Jersey

Dr. Marvin B. SussmanProfessor and ChairmanDepartment of SociologyCase-Western Reserve University

Dr. E. B. VanDusen, DirectorDivision of Evening StudiesLowell Technological InstituteLowell, Massachusetts

Mr. James Weatali, PresidentRegional Vocational :hoofs Directors' Assn.McCann Regional Vocational High SchoolNorth Adams, Massachusetts