little unless they carry a supervised program which looks to definite training for advancement in a selected occupation. This at bottom is the social viewpoint. Efficiency in living life as a whole, as well as efficiency at work, is the goal of the vocational movement in education. Vocational guidance aims to lay down the specifications for a life career, vocational education to supply the best methods for working them out; and if the message of these enterprises is heeded in the occupations, we may expect employment to be a period for consummating the labors of the school. 28259°-16-9 Chapter VIII. PROPER METHODS OF FINANCING. PRELIMINARY. The chief source of material used in the preparation of this chapter is the Report of the United States Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. Credit should therefore be given to the members of this commission for the fundamental ideas which underlie the main features of the following suggestions. The terms used in describing the various types of education are the same as those used in the chapter upon terminology, to which the reader is referred for specific definitions and illustrations whenever words used are not clear. Appreciation should also be expressed to the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education for use of its reports, to the Massachusetts State Board of Education for its report of 1913-14, and to such other persons or bodies as have contributed in any way to the literature which has helped in the final presentation of this important topic. It was thought that the method of consultation and conference in arranging this material would give a result which would be of much more value than would be the opinion of any single individual. This chapter should therefore be regarded as a composite statement of the most suggestive ways of financing this method of education which have yet presented themselves. Cost is the heart of the business system. The business man or corporation counts and provides for cost before any undertaking is entered into, and at every step of its later development. Sound finance lies at the basis of every successful enterprise in the business and industrial world, and it is certainly of the highest consideration in the great fields of education, both general and special. The established forms of education in the so-called cultural and liberal branches have long been maintained at public expense. As it is so largely a question of State-wide welfare, the State is recognized as the large unit, supervising, cooperating with, and aiding the work of the local unit of town or city. Along with general studies, training for business and the professions has had a measure of provision; but vocational education in its broader sense has only lately come to receive even a part of the attention it rightly deserves. In early times the responsibility of training for an industry rested upon the family. Then the son followed the trade of his father. Later this responsibility was transferred, in a measure, to industry; and the apprenticeship system resulted. Now has come the movement to transfer the responsibility still again and place it upon the State through the establishment of schools. And thus the schools are in turn asking industry to help bear the burden, to the extent of providing apprenticeship opportunity and counsel to supplement the best that the schools can do. Maintenance Expense Running Before discussing methods in financing vocational education, let us clearly understand just what it is that calls for support. From every point of view the establishment of a system of vocational schools should be clearly defined in its financial aspects. Its purposes and provisions must not be confused with those of other kinds of education, however worthy these may be in themselves. The idea is spreading rapidly among the States that State support should be given for education carried on by local communities. The general tendency seems to be for the State to give money to encourage new kinds of education. Local communities are still left to pay largely for the support of the liberal and cultural education which the schools have long given. Vocational education, then, is the later form that calls for additional support. Briefly stated, there are six kinds of vocational education, as follows: Professional, commercial, agricultural, industrial, home making,1 nautical. Professional education is provided for by public and private schools and institutions, for pay, in the East; and by all grades of educational institutions, particularly State universities under certain conditions without cost to the student, in the West. It is usually for persons who have completed their secondary education, however. Commercial education is also provided for, in some measure, by public commercial schools and courses, by private business schools, and by college and university departments of business administration and finance. Nautical education, the least of all in numbers affected, is provided for by the Massachusetts Nautical School and by private and professional schools. We have left, then, three kinds of vocational education-agricultural, industrial, and household arts-calling for public and private support, in addition to the great sums of money already devoted to the cause of education. The problem of support for these three forms of vocational education has also three natural and clearly defined aspects: I. Vocational education supported by the public. II. Vocational education supported by private philanthropy and by corporations. III. Vocational education supported by joint agreement between employers' associations and labor unions. I. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SUPPORTED BY THE PUBLIC. This is much the largest division of the problem and the one awakening the greatest interest the country over, even though but few of the States have as yet passed State-wide laws establishing systems 1 Used at present as a more comprehensive term than "household arts." of vocational education. This division is in so great a degree a question of industrial education that the principles and methods worked out by the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education may be regarded as fundamental in its treatment. Substantially the following principles have been evolved by the national society and by State and local boards and agencies. An effective program of vocational education will cause an increase in the expenditure of public moneys for school purposes, for the following reasons: 1. More money will be needed to pay teachers, because those equipped with the desirable qualities and trade experience are now receiving in the trade a higher salary than has formerly been paid to teachers of such work. 2. This work demands selected teachers of experience and preparation in the trades. 3. Shops when operated in connection with the schools cause additional cost in equipment and maintenance. In some cases this may be partly offset by the production of articles in the shop. 4. Opening up new types of service to a group for whom as yet little or no provision has been made. It may here be noted that the cost per pupil for training in the Vocational schools is now somewhat higher than for training in the ordinary schools because of the added cost in teaching and equipment, as above stated. While it is yet too early to give accurate statistics, the fact remains and makes the need of added revenue more emphatic. Many local communities are already burdened by the attempt to meet the demands which the present time is crowding upon the regular schools. In some towns and cities the added taxation can be undertaken only with great difficulty, if at all. Local communities are not willing, without State aid, to tax themselves for the purpose of training workmen who are extremely likely to drift off into other communities to raise the standard of citizenship and workmanship elsewhere.1 As far as the community is concerned, the necessary revenue to provide for vocational education may be provided for in two ways: First, by a redivision of the revenues of the community so as to give a larger proportion to vocational education. This method would, of course, diminish the portion devoted to cultural education. Second, the needed revenue may be secured by a special appropriation for vocational education in addition to the amount given for general education. This method, as has been said above, gives a greater burden than some communities with low value and taxable property and yet having considerable population can well bear. All authorities agree 1 Cf. Rept. of U. S. Com. on Nat. Aid to Voc. Educ., pp. 32-33. |