The public schools are gradually pulling ahead of their competitors because they are employing a higher grade of teachers than formerly and are doing the work in a fashion which is technically more complete. In the meantime the commercial courses are becoming more “respectable” and are being taken by a better grade of students. The effect of the election of commercial courses by a better grade of students is such as to modify the whole program of the school in the direction of more attention to the needs and practices of business life.
Agricultural High Schools
A second type of vocational course appears in the high schools of rural communities where much attention is being devoted to agriculture. Indeed, the increase in the number of high schools in the country in recent years has been very largely due to the fact that rural communities have taken an interest in carrying the training of pupils beyond the rudimentary subjects of the elementary curriculum.
This movement relates itself to the development of a department of agriculture in the Federal government and to the generous subsidy through that department for agricultural experiments in centers of education in all the states. Three years ago a large Federal subsidy was set aside for the further promotion of agricultural demonstrations and schools, and the recently enacted Federal legislation for industrial education includes provision for more agriculture.
Part-Time Courses
A third movement which has recently attracted a great deal of attention and favorable comment was started in the engineering school of the University of Cincinnati and is known as the part-time plan. Classes are organized in such a way that their members spend one week or one month in the shop of some manufacturing plant and the next period in school. A second group alternates in the reverse order, so that the shop and the school are at all times engaged in regular work. Where this plan is well organized, there is a special school officer, called a correlator, who sees to it that there is some direct connection between the shop work and the courses taken up in the schools.
The part-time plan aims to supply that mixture of practical opportunity and training in science, mathematics, and the academic subjects which will lead to both vocational efficiency and a general education.
Various Types of Trade Schools
Fourth, there are all kinds of schools for young people in the trades. Some of these hold their sessions at night, when the working day is over, and others are organized to take the young worker out of the shop or store for a limited number of hours during the working day. In the matter of instruction some give only special training intended to make the worker more skillful; others give general courses in civics, or history, or even in literary subjects.
Some of these schools for workers are organized by the corporations which employ the workers. Thus, telephone companies and dry-goods stores find that it is economical to train their employees. Some of the schools are conducted by the school system and are provided with pupils either through the voluntary demand on the part of learners or through the operation of state laws or municipal ordinances compelling children to attend such schools until they are of a certain age.