ported and controlled by the public, wherein tuition is free and open to all able to meet the entrance requirements. Schools of the secondary grade only are considered. All private schools, schools for special classes, institutions for the supplementary education of those above high school age, and special departments in high schools or special schools offering vocational training along other than industrial or trade lines are eliminated.

The term "practical activities" as used in the table given below is intended to include or cover any and all of the following types of training: manual training, manual arts, mechanical arts, technical training, household economy, agricultural, and industrial and trade training.

Almost all of this legislation has been enacted during the past twelve years. Of the twenty-nine states legislating with respect to practical activities of any type, twenty-five have enacted their present provisions since 1900. Of the sixteen states granting state aid for practical activities of some type, fourteen have so provided since 1903.79

79 National Society for Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin No. 12, Nov., 1910, pp. 23-26.

During 1911, Colorado was the only new state to enact legislation for practical activities. The legislation provided for the establishment of a school of agriculture and mechanic arts and appropriated $75,000 therefor, and also provided for the establishment of a state trade school. Alabama, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have enacted legislation relative to industrial education, in addition to that which had previously been enacted.80

The keen interest manifested and the recent legislation enacted have created a widespread discussion on the possibilities of the practical activities or vocational training. One outcome of this ever growing movement has been the introduction of a bill by United States Senator Carrol S. Page in the Senate; this bill provides:

I. "For the maintenance of instruction in the trades and industries, home economics, and agriculture in public schools of secondary grade."

2. "For the maintenance of instruction in agriculture and home economics in State district agricultural schools of secondary grade, as provided in section two of this act."

3. "For the maintenance of branch field test and breeding stations to be located at the agricultural high schools provided for in this act."

4. "For the maintenance in each State of a college of agriculture and the mechanic arts-of an extension department devoted to giving instruction and demonstration in agriculture, the trades and industries, home economics, and rural affairs, to persons not resident at these colleges.”

5. "For the preparation of persons to serve as teachers of the vocations of agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics-in departments of divisions of education in the State colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts of the respective States and Territories established under the act of Congress approved July second, 1862."

The bill further provides for the establishment of a secondary agricultural school and branch station in each district, the total

80 Report of United States Commissioner of Education, 1911, p. 149.

number of such districts in a given state or territory to be not less than one for each fifteen counties nor more than one for each five counties and fraction of five counties.

It is not the purpose of the bill to maintain the secondary schools but to co-operate with the states in encouraging instruction in and preparing teachers for those activities mentioned in the above items. The bill provides funds for this purpose.

Recently Senator Page stated that the bill has been amended and perfected so as to secure for it the enthusiastic endorsement of over 90% of the leading educators of the country. To these endorsements may be added the hearty support of many associations and organizations which have given the bill serious consideration. If the bill becomes a law, it is to be hoped that similar benefits may obtain to secondary education as obtained to higher education through the establishment of the state colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts by the land grant act of 1862.

CONCLUSION

As was stated in the preceding chapter, I believe that the benefits derived from the proper presentation of manual training to be of sufficient value to warrant its maintenance in those schools where it is now taught, and to warrant its further introduction. But statistics seem to indicate that it has not succeeded in keeping a greater percentage of boys in school. As a result of this fact and other conditions that have been suggested in this chapter, various educational experiments are now being tried and advocated. Whether or not we are working in the proper direction depends largely upon what we conceive to be the purpose and aim of education.

If the chief aim of education be a cultural one, then, perhaps, the old classical courses will best fit the pupils for this end; but if the chief aim be broader than this, if it is to be "an undertaking by the social body itself to fit an individual to carry on smoothly, in conjunction with others, the work necessary for the highest and fullest life of all, the further idea at once comes, that since society is progressive, since social demands change from time to time, since each generation and age has its own spirit and ideas

to realize, education cannot be a static, changeless scheme or system.'

1981

Prof. Paul H. Hanus states that the special aims of elementary or early education are:

I. "To nourish the mind of the child through a course of study which should comprise an orderly presentation of the whole field of knowledge in its elements, and thus acquaint the pupil with the world in which he lives and the civilization into which he is born, and of his own relations to them, including his duties and his privileges; and thus to provide the opportunity for the exercise of all the child's powers, mental and moral, aesthetic, manual or constructive, through good instruction and wise discipline."

2. "To guard and promote his normal physical development."'"2 The special aims of secondary education are:

1. To discover and systematically to develop a human being's interests and capacities; intellectual, moral, aesthetic, manual, or constructive.

2. With constant regard to the progress of this discovery to so direct his development, as gradually to emancipate him from external restraint and guidance, in order to render him, as far as possible, self-directing, i. e., physically, mentally, morally, stable, alert, vigorous, and active.

3. To enable a youth to realize that he owes a duty to society as well as to himself; and hence, that the prizes of life-namely, wealth, leisure, honor, in order to possess lasting worth in his own estimation and in the estimation of his fellow men, must be earned; or, when inherited, as they sometimes are, that they must be deserved; that, in short, man's highest and most permanent ideal is service.83

If these be the true aims of education, then appropriate courses should be established to fulfill them whenever conditions warrant it. If we fail to provide such courses for the pupils we may prevent them from developing the powers which they possess and

81 John M. Gillette, "Vocational Education," p. 73.

82

Paul H. Hanus, "Educational Aims and Educational Values," p. 64. 83 Ibid., p. 65.

divert them into other paths which may prove to be of more interest but of less ultimate value.

The mere fact that, in the past, we made the mistake in believing that these courses which aimed chiefly at culture were the most efficient for all concerned does not warrant us in going to the other extreme. The needs of the community, the forms of industry, and the attitude of the parents, should all be carefully investigated before decisive steps are taken toward the introduction of a new course of study into a public school system. The experience of those who have already adopted that course should also be carefully considered.

Opinions differ as to whether the trade school, the continuation school, the half time school, and the industrial school should be controlled by the public school system or not. But in either case, extreme care must be exercised to prevent a growth of class distinction. It was this factor more than any other that retarded the growth of the public school system at its inception. The public school was the "charity school" and a sharp and fast line was drawn between the children who had to attend the public schools and those who could afford to go to pay schools.

In this case, the line would be drawn between those who attend the classical schools and those who attend the schools where manual work is required. It has taken a long time to break down the prejudice against manual training schools, and even now it has not wholly disappeared. And it seems quite probable that this feeling might be greatly intensified in the newer type of school.

It is not fair to assume that if the type of schools mentioned work well in Germany or some other European country it will work well in the United States. In many of the foreign countries the class lines are sharply drawn and are recognized and accepted. The son usually follows the same occupation as his father. He does not have to choose his trade; he simply enters the school that will fit him for his father's occupation, when the time for a choice comes. Such a condition does not exist in this country to any very great extent. Foreign experience may indicate to us the proper lines along which to experiment but we must base our conclusions on our own experiences and the results obtained.