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ED 023 840Vocational and Technical Education.Education Commission of the States, Denver, Colo.Pub Date Jun 68Note -48p.Journal Cit -Compact, v2 n3 ppl -4 4 June 1%8EDRS Price MF -$025 HC -$250Descriptors -Business, Economically Disadvantaged, Educational Innovation, Educational Oblectives, *Educational

Problems, Expenditures, Federal Aid, Federal Laws, Federal Legislation, Industry, Junior Colleges, Manpower

Needs, Program Improvement, 'Program Proposals, State Programs, *Technfcal Education, Urban Education,

Vocational EducationVolume 2, Issue 3 of "Compact" was designed to point out the problems and

potential of vocational-technical education and to offer some suggestions for action.Maior content includes: (1) 'Education for Twenty-First Century Employment," by Wayne

Morse, (2) 'Pending Federal Legislation Encourages Vocational Innovation," by Grant

Venn, (3) Vocational Education in Federal Legislation: A Summary," (4) "Crisis in

Vocational Leadership, by Lowell Burkett, (5) "The Governors Support Vocational

Legislation," by Calvin Rampton, (6) Proposals for State Action in OccupationalEducation," (7) Voluntary Quality Control for Vocational-Technical Schools," by Frank

Dickey, (8) "Occupational Education, Middle Manpower and the Junior College," byNorman C. Harris, (9) Rhode Island Pioneers Coordinated Approach," (10) "TheManpower Mission of the Public Schools," by Marvin Feldman, (11) "Is VocationalEducation for the Poor?" by Philip Lerman, (12) Pennsylvania's Scheme Offers New

Hope for Slum Dwellers," (13) "The Urban Education Context," by John Volpe, (14)

thanging Industrial Needs and Job Training," by Charles DeCarlo, (15) 'What Is theResponsibility of Business in Modernizing_ Education?" and (16) "The Private Sector inVocational Education:by Charles Percy. Tables reflect federal allotments to states forvocational education in fiscal year 1968 and total state expenditures for vocationaleducation in fiscal year 1965.(DM)

VT 005 996

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE

PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS

STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION

POSITION OR POLICY.

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VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

JUNE 1968 Vol. 2 No. 3

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Cover: Sculpture by Mrs. SusanPogzeba, Denver artist. The win-ner of the recent William andMarion Zeckendorf Foundationsculpture award, Mrs. Pogzebadesigned the four-and-one-ha/fton bronze now p/aced in Den-ver's Zeckendorf Park.Photograph by Winter Prather./

COMPACT is published bi-monthly by the EducationCommission of the States. The editorialpolicy is to present a balanced viewpoint on the importanteducational issues of our times. All signed articlesreflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily representthe position of the Commission. Letters, inquiries,and manuscripts are welcome and should be addressed to theEditor, The Education Commission of the States,822 Lincoln Tower Building, 1860 Lincoln Street, Denver, Colorado 80203.

Editor: Sally V. Allen Associate Editor: Karen Sweeney

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ContentsThe Problem and the Neod 2

Wayne L. MorseEducation f, : Twenty-First Century Employment 3

Grant VennPending Federal Legislation Encourages Innovation 6

Calvin L. RamptonGovernors Support Vocational Legislation 14

Frank G. DickeyVoluntary Quality Control 20

Norman C. HarrisOccupational Education, MiddleManpower and the Junior College 23

Marvin FeldmanThe Manpower Mission of the Public Schools 27

Philip E. Lerman-15 Vocational Education far the Poor? 29

John A. VolpeThe Urban Education Context 33

Charles R. DeCarlqChanging Industrial Needs and Job Training 38

Charles F11; PercyThe Private Sector in Vocational Education 42

In BriefCrisis in Vocational Leadership: Lowell Burkett 12Proposals for State Action: Minear Report 16Rhode Island Pioneers Coordinated Approach 26Pennsylvania Offers Hope for Slum Dwellers 32Art of Fishing in Alaska 35Responsibility of Business: U. S. Chamber of Commerce 41

TablesVocational Education in Federal Legislation: Summary 9Federal Allotments to States, FY 1968 13Projected Educational Attainment of Labor Force, 1975 15Median Years of School Completed by Workers, 1966 17Occupational Shifts, 1965-75 25Differentials in Unemployment Rates, 1966 28Job Vacancies in Philadelphia Metro Area 32Employment by Major Occupation Group, 1964-75 44Total Expenditures for Voc-Tech Education by State 45

DepartmentsFrom the Mailbag 2ECS Commissioners Speak Out an:

Federal, State and Private Industry Responsibility 18Coordination of Voc-Tech Education at State Level 22State Priorities for Voc-Tech Education 36

,

The Problem And The NeedNO area of education has been more neglectedor even maligned

than has vocational-technical training. Yet no other areaoffers more hope for the solution of some of the nation's socialand economic problems. With appropriate training, millions ofAmericans who would otherwise be unemployed or underem-ployed could participate meaningfully in the economy and couldfulfill ever-growing national needs for middle-level manpower.

There is now general agreement that occupational educationhas not reached its potential. But there is little agreement abouthow the complex problems underlying its improvement can besolved. Fundamental to their solution is the need to change basicprevailing attitudes about what is "success" and to raise the pres-tige of all forms of occupational education.

Those who bridle at the high cost of this type of educationmust be convinced of the actual returns through increased incometaxes and improved employee competence, of the need for moretechnical manpower if industry and business are to meet demandsfor goods and services, and of the increasing cost of supportingthe unemployed. Those who place higher priority on traditionalliberal arts education and those who argue that occupationaltraining should be geared only to students who "can't make it"in other courses must be made to understand the inherent valueof comprehensive vocational education and its critical role in thenational economy.

Actions such as the following should be taken by each state:1. High priority should be accorded to the funding of vocational-

technical education programs of high quality. States should considergranting aid to voc-tech schools on the basis of a formula which recog-nizes the quality of program offered, its availability to those who mostneed it, and the extent to which it is coordinated with other educationalofferings at all levels throughout the state.

2. State political and educational leaders should make known toCongress their strong support for the pending Learning and Earning Actof 1968 and the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 (Pucinski Bill).These bills, which would provide for comprehensive planning and estab-lishment .of priorities at the state level, consolidation of federal aids, ad-vance funding, and a more adequate federal share of costs as well as newactivities and incentives, particularly for the disadvantaged, would be im-portant legislative steps toward more effective voc-tech programs.

3. State political and educational leaders at all levels must seekways of developing better leadership in the voc-tech field, including thetraining, hiring, and retention of competent staff members, teachers, andadministrators.

4. Educators, particularly superintendents of schools and highereducation leaders, must more effectively interpret the needs for voc-techeducation arid raise its esteem in the academic community. Guidancecounselors in public schools should be better prepared to offer informa-tion about voc-tech programs and current employment opportunities. Voc-tech programs themselves must be more closely related to current andfuture job markets.

5. States should offer incentives to private industry to develop andexpand their own occupational training efforts and to insure close co-operation with school authorities.

6. New administrative devices should be developed at the state levelto insure close cooperation among existing state boards of education,boards of higher education, the administrators of junior colleges, and voca-tional-technical education boards.

This issue of COMPACT has been designed to call to the at-tention of state political and educational leaders the problems andpotential of vocational-technical education and to offer some sug-gestions *for action. Future issues of this magazine and other Edu.-cation Commission publications will report effective practices andinnovative efforts in the field of occupational education.

W.H.P.

2

from the mailbag

Finance IssueYour excellent issue for February,

1968, Financing Public Education,has excited considerable interest inTennessee. --Frank H. Yates;Director of Research, Tennessee De-partment of Education

As Research Director of theBirmingham Area Chamber of Com-merce and as one who is deeplyinvolved in education matters in thismetropolitan area and throughoutthe state of Alabama, I would liketo compliment you on the editorialcontent of the February 1968 issue.R. S. Crowder; Birmingham AreaChamber of Commerce, Alabama

We have a just-appointed citizenscommittee in Kansas City to studygoals for the schools and ways tofinance them. The February, 1968COMPACT is particularly filledwith material which would be help-ful to such a committee.

John C. Drake;Executive Secretary, Kansas CityEducation Association

Urban Education IssueAllow me to congratulate you on

the most recent issue of COMPACT(April, 1968). It is ,an excellentissue and one which will remain aresource piece for all people in-terested in education.

Miriam K. Ringo;Director, Illinois State Departmentof Personnel

I am most impressed by the in-formative and relevant articles inthe issue on Urban Education. Thisis a subject of great concern to meand a number of colleagues, and onethat I believe the Congress mustact on with urgency, dispatch andimagination. Ogden R. Reid;Member of Congress from New York

The Seattle School District has aspecial interest in this issue whichcarries an article by our Superin-tendent and points of view of par-ticular concern in ECS Commission-ers Speak Out. Philip B. Swain;Director of Management Develop-ment, Boeing Company, Seattle

Schedule RevisedThank you very much for the

April issue of COMPACT and par-ticularly for the plug given oursuit ["Detroit Tests State Aid " page8,1 We have been met with some pro-cedural delays and as a consequencehave had to revise our estimate ofthe trial court's decision from latespring until early summer. I hopethat further revision will not benecessary.George E. Bushnell, Jr.;Lawyer, Detroit, Michigan

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

WAYNE L. MORSE

Education For Twenty-FirstCentury Employment

Senator Morse was first elected to the U. S. Congress from Oregon in 1944,after teaching at the University of Oregon Law School and serving asPresident Roosevelt's Chairman of the National Railroad Emergency Board.He is current/y chairman of the Education Subcommittee of the SenateLabor and Public Welfare Committee.

The responsibility for preparing young Ameri-cans for life in the twenty-first century belongs toour schools. Children now being educated will beearning their living after the year 2000 A.D. Therapid changes in American society and econ-omy during the last two decades and those whichare predictable during the next decade indicatethat the life of these young people will be filledwith opportunities, crises, and problems whichare beyond present imagination.

It is impossible to train children for twenty-first century life. It is only possible to providethem with an education which will permit themto take advantage of new opportunities, withstandunforeseen crises and solve heretofore unsolvableproblems. Modern technology, the rapidly expand-ing world of knowledge, and freedom from pov-erty could lay a foundation for a civilizationwhich, for the first time in human history, wouldoffer every American an opportunity to develophis full potential.

It is also possible that technological progressand the economic advantages accruing to thosewho have mastered that technology will leave alarge segment of our society behindseparatedfrom the benefits of the mainstream of the societyand the economy.Challenge for Vocational-TechnicalSchools Recognized Through Law

The role of vocational and technical educationin the growth of the economy and in the lives ofthe American people is an open question at thistime. If our educators continually adapt the pro-grams offered in vocational and technical educa-tion in order to prepare students for lifetime

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

careers, it could and should play a vital role.However, innovations and discoveries in technol-ogy, the rapid accumulation of knowledge andthe kaleidoscopic changes in the economy arechallenging our schools. If that challenge is notmet, vocational and technical education will nolonger serve its basic purpose; it will no longerhave a valid nason for being; and millions ofAmericans will suffer the loss of what could bethe key element in a well-rounded, balancedeconomy.

The importance of vocational and technicaleducation to the economy has been recognized byCongress since the enactment of the first Land-Grant College Act in 1862. The land-grant collegeswere established to meet the need for professionalcompetence in the nineteenth century agriculturaleconomy and the need for engineers in the indus-trializing areas of the country.

During the first world war the Smith-HughesVocational Education Act of 1917 was passed byCongress in order to provide training at the sec-ondary school level. This was in recognition of thefact that secondary education was the level whichwould have the greatest impact on the lives ofthe people and on the nation's economy. Congres-sional concern with vocational education at thesecondary school level resulted in continued ex-pansion of federal programs until after WorldWar II, when the George-Barden Vocational Edu-cation Act became law.

The impact of World War II on the industrial-ization of the country was so great that industryand technology overshadowed agriculture. Thenation's manpower needs were dramatically al-

3

tered. In 1958, with the enactment of the NationalDefense Education Act, the area vocational pro-gram was initiated in order to provide trainingfor vitally needed technicians.

In 1963, Congress gave a thorough review tothe basic elements and philosophy of vocationaleducation for the first time since 1917. Recognizingthe need for flexibility in a rapidly changingsociety, an entirely new law was enacted. TheVocational Education Act of 1963 was specificallydesigned to provide a vehicle for meeting newmanpower needs az they arise and for makingprograms available to young people which aretailored to meet their individual needs.

There are three facets of that Act which areof prime importance: (1) a recognition of post-secondary and adult education as the areas offuture growth; (2) special programs to meet thespecial needs of persons who, by reason of dis-advantage or handicap, have difficulty in succeed-ing in regular programs; and (3) provision for acomplete professional evaluation after five yearsof operation.

The evaluation was completed in January of1968, and the Congress is reviewing the programin depth. This review cannot be conducted out ofthe context of the total picture of American edu-cation.

These basic facts must now be recognized anddealt with in considering vocational education:(1) the level of American education of greatestoverall importance has shifted from the secondarylevel to the post-secondary level; (2) thousandsof disadvantaged young people drop out of schoolbefore high school graduation; and (3) the man-power needs of the economy are becoming sohighly technical, varied and shifting that it ishighly improbable that a single-purpose terminalsecondary school training program can adequatelyprepare students for a lifetime career.

The capacity of traditional vocational programsto cope with these facts of life is doubted bymany educators. Some have suggested that voca-tional education no longer has a reason for being.I disagree with those who see no future invocational and technical education. I believe thatthe nation's educators can bring about the changesin vocational and technical education which willmake those programs fill what seems to be avoid in the future of our education system.

Special Needs of Individual StudentsThere are two groups of students which, unless

given special attention, will never fulfill theirmaximum potential: (1) the physically and men-tally handicapped, and (2) children who are dis-advantaged by socio-economic circumstances.

The 1963 Act recognized the important rolevocational or occupational education should play

4

in the education of children with special needs.In the specified uses of federal funds in the Act,a special category was provided for special needs.

However, of more than $800 million spent forvocational education under the Act, only $5 mil-lionor less than one per cent of the federal fundsappropriatedwas spent for special needs pro-grams. Those figures indicate that more attentionwill have to be given to this area.

Vocational education, if properly adapted,could serve as a valuable means to prevent highschool dropouts. Some reports have indicated thatvocational education has a poorer retention ratethan general education. It is generally suggestedthe reason is that many vocational programs areunrealistic in the modern worldthat the voca-tional programs are training for jobs in whichthere is no future.

Changing manpower needs have made manytraining programs obsolete. The answer to thisproblem may not be to put in new training pro-grams but to change the focus of these programsfrom training to educationoccupational educa-tion.

Occupational education programs designed tofamiliarize students with the world of work aheadof them and with the various occupations whichwill be available for them would seem to be morerealistic than job training. Such programs shouldbe very effective in holding those children whoneed special programs in school. Occupationalfamiliarization programs would show them thenecessity of staying in school and hold their inter-est while they are there.

Occupational educationas opposed to voca-tional trainingshould be instituted at the juniorhigh school level. The Act of 1963 provides theflexibility for non-job training programs at the8th, 9th and 10th grades which bring the employ-ment world outside the school into the classroom.Such programs could provide a means for makingschool more relevant to the lives of disadvantagedyouth, inspire them with the ambition to continuein school and instill in them greater aspirationsthan they receive from their environment.

Vocational programs for handicapped studentsand disadvantaged youth can, if properly plannedand administered, be a valuable tool in bridgingthe great chasm which often separates them fromfull participation in our society.

Post-secondary Education ShouldAssume New Role

Post-secondary education has replaced second-ary education as the terminal program for amajority of American young people. High schoolvocational programs should reflect this change.All too few have done so. The new technology hasmade many of the occupations for which high

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

school training is adequate almost obsolete. Thevast majority of American young people want tocontinue their education beyond high school. Whyshould they be enrolled in terminal training pro-grams in high school?

Vocational programs can be of more use tothese students if they are designed to prepare stu-dents for post-secondary technical programs. Basicprincipk 3 of applied science would he of more usethan lathe operation to a student who would liketo continue his education.

Failure to recognize the shift from secondaryto post-secondary education on the part of voca-tional. educators has led to failure on the part ofthe general public to recognize the importanceof technical education at the post-secondary level.As a result the parent and the child are so intentupon a college education that the possibility thatthe child might prefer to be a laboratory or elec-tronics technician is completely overlooked.

Parents, realizing the importance of educationin the future, are making every effort to makesure their children go to college. Young people,for whom a college education appears only adistant improbability, are in despair when theythink of their future. The importance which hasbeen placed upon a college degree in the market-place is a disservice both to colleges and universi-ties and to the young people who feel compelledto obtain a degree.

All too often the employer unrealistically de-mands the college degree for its presumed socialstatus value regardless of the actual job require-ments. More adequate recognition should be givento a degree other than the bachelor's, such as thoseissued by the post-secondary two-year institution.There is or should be room for a four-year degreesimilar to those granted by polytechnic institutesthat have been so successful in many Europeancountries.

Traditionally colleges and universities havebeen designed to provide students with an oppor-tunity to get a liberal educationnot to train themfor a job. The curriculum was one designed toterminate with a doctorate in philosophy. In recentdecades, universities have moved in the directionof training students for jobs by offering post-graduate professional education in such fields asmedicine, education, engineering and law. To thatextent they have in effect become vocationalschools. If universal post-secondary education be-comes a reality in this country, as I hope it does,post-secondary education will be, to an evengreater extent, vocationally-oriented. This is asit should be.

In my opinion it would be a severe mistake tomake our future entirely dependent upon adapt-ing the college curriculum. The concepts which

COMPACT, RINE 1968

form the basis for vocational, technical and engi-neering curricula can be more readily adapted. Anexpansion of the applied sciences curricula offersa realistic avenue by which young people mayprepare themselves for productive and satisfyingcareers throughout their lives.

It goes without saying that post-secondary vo-cational and technical institutions are in a positionto play a major role in the future of our society.These institutions are in a unique positiona posi-tion in which they can train young people to enterthe labor market and at the same time offer aneducation to prepare them to meet crises in theirlives arising from the rapidly changing technologyand expanding economy.

A view of the occupations in which there is acurrent shortage of manpower will indicate thedirection occupational education must take: physi-cians, nurses, health service personnel, teachers,social workers, ei:gineers, draftsmen and mathe-maticians.

Projections of employment growth over thenext ten years indicate that the fastest growingoccupational groups are professional and technicalworkers, service workers, clerical workers, andmanagerial and proprietary workers. I foresee atime in the not-too-far-distant future when ourtechnology will have advanced to the point thatall of the present "skilled labor" occupations willbe obsolete. Persons who are now in, or are train-ing for, those occupations will have to be retrainedunless they have an education which will permitthem to change with the needs of the economy.

The recent period of revolutionary discoveriesand innovations in science and technology hasresulted in such an accumulation of knowledgethat even scientists and engineers are threatenedwith inability to keep up with their fields. If thisproblem is facing scientists and engineers, personsin the occupations ancillary to those fields arefaced with an almost insurmountable task in keep-ing up. This means that post-secondary vocationaland technical schools are going to have to adaptto continuing education programs in the technicalfields. It means that education is going to becomea facet of everybody's career which continuesthroughout an entire lifetime.

There are limits to what can be done in theform of legislation to guide vocational educationin the future. Congress can make funds availableand provide general guidelines for the use ofthose funds. The primary responsibility for voca-tional and technical education rests with thepeople involved at the local level. They must beever alert to insure response to the ever-changingneeds of the people for education and the needsof the economy for manpower.

5

GRANT VENN

Pending Federal Legislation EncouragesVocational Innovation

Dr. Venn is Associate Commissioner of Education for Adult, Vocational,and Library Programs. Formerly president of Western State College,Gunnison, Colorado, he has served as the Peace Corps' Director of Over-seas Training in Puerto Rico, Superintendent of Schools in Parkersburg,West Virginia, and research associate with the American Council on Edu-cation. He is the author of Man, Education and Work (1964), a report onpost-secondary vocational and technical Education.

Why is vocational education necessary? It is thebridge between man and his work. Millions of peo-ple need this education in order to earn a living.Providing for an individual's employability as heleaves school and throughout his worklife is one ofthe major goals of vocational education. Vocationaleducation looks at a man as a part of society and asan individual, and never before has attention to theindividual as a person been so imperative.

That question and its answer is taken from thecover of one of three publications issued by theAdvisory Council on Vocational Education whichspent 1967 making an exhaustive study of theprogress of vocational and technical education inthis country. The Council's aim was to assessprogress under the landmark Vocational EducationAct of 1963 and to make recommendations for im-provements in both the administration and thelegislation controlling the federal efforts in thesefields.

The Congress is considering legislation whichwould implement most of the Council's recom-mendations and others which have been made bythe broad constituency of vocational education.Even before the council's publications were avail-able, however, the Administration had recom-mended legislation which would have provided astronger base of support and greater attention tonew and exemplary programs in the field.Partnership for Learning and Earning Act

The Partnership for Learning and Earning Actis being considered at this writing by both theHouse and the Senate. The Administration budgetcalls for an expenditure of $15 million in fiscalyear 1969 for experimental programs to help over-come basic problems of vocational and technicaleducation. If approved, the overall budget forvocational programs at the federal level wouldexceed $300 million next year.

What do we expect to get for our extra money?

6

The legislation is based on the philosophy thatthe school has a significant role and responsibilityin manpower development. Mere recognition thatschools can improve their performance in equip-ping the disadvantaged with salable skills is notenough. The whole educational system for allstudentsthe curriculum, the instructional pro-grams, their relationships to each othermusttake into account present and future occupationalopportunities.

To say the schools have failed in this responsi-bility is grossly misleading. They have not; theyhave made a significant contribution. The publicschools are not solely responsible for assuring so-cial justice, but they can serve as a viable vehiclefor assuring appropriate opportunities for all toprepare for satisfactory employment.

The proposed legislation has, essentially, fouraspects.Exploratory Junior High Occupational Education:

The first is an exploratory occupational edu-cation program helped by federal funds for alljunior high school students. It is during the 7th,8th, and 9th grades that the majority of our youngdropouts leave school. Or if a state law preventsit, they decide then that they have had enoughreport cards telling them they aren't going to makeit. They leave as soon as the law permits. Ex-ploratory programs would provide the junior highschool age group with a broader understandingabout the different kinds of work and the manydifferent ways one may approach preparation forwork.

It may be that we should start even earlierthan 7th, 8th and 9th grades to give young peoplea broader understanding of different occupationswithout forcing them to make a vocational choice.The idea is simply to give them a broad base fromwhich they can make intelligent choices whenthe time comes.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

Part-Time Work Experience:The second part of the proposed amendment

calls for part-time work experience for all young-sters in high school who wish to take advantageof the opportunity. It would assist needy stu-dents to continue their education. It would pro-mote a sense of achievement in school-relatedwork experiences, enlarge educational opportuni-ties, help youngsters recognize the value of work,and establish better communications between edu-cators and other important segments of the com-munity, particularly the working community.

These experiences should primarily teach youngpeople employability and job skills. Studentsmight then see for themselves that regular at-tendance in school and at work pays off. Theymight see that good citizenship practices and goodattitudes toward work and school are amply re-warded. Job experiences enable the student totest his employability skills and job skills and toevaluate his growth.Entry Job Placement:

The third aspect of the proposed amendmentplaces the responsibility for entry job placementon the schools. Our schools now assume full re-sponsibility for the college-bound studentto getthat young student to college and into a programthat fits him. But, if more than 80 per cent ofour young people between high school and thebaccalaureate degree must enter the work forcedirectly, it seems to me that our schools mustassume this new kind of responsibility. In pro-viding this new service, schools would cooperatewith the local state employment service and withbusiness and industry in the community.

School would become the best place for everyyoung person to be helped in getting that firstjob. There are many private skill schools func-tioning effectively and charging rather substantialtuition rates. They give young people occupa-tional training and promise them jobs. The publicschools have never been encouraged to assumethis responsibility.New Curricula:

The fourth part of the proposed legislation isdesigned to develop new curricula in vocationaleducation to serve youngsters now being ignored.For example, a student who intended all throughhigh school to go on to college suddenly decides,for some reason, not to. We must set up shortcourses of one semester or six weeks to give theseyoung people specific salable skills to make themimmediately employable.

The Congress is still considering this legisla-tion. It may or may not become law.Impact of Proposals on Industrial Arts

So far as the impact of such proposed changeson industrial arts education goes, one can almostread "industrial arts" wherever the phrase "voca-tional education" appears. The distinction be-

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

tween industrial arts and vocational educationat best confusing to the laymanis doubly con-fusing when one considers the practices in dif-ferent school systems.

In theory, in most states, industrial arts is not,of course, intended to provide students with amarketable skill. It is said to be a part of generaleducation, not occupational education. It involvesstudy of materials, organization, tools, processes,and appreciation of industry. The program isaimed to provide a basis for making a vocationalchoice, but in most instances it is highly unlikelythat industrial arts courses do provide a basisfor choice among a number of alternative occu-pations or for the development of real knowledgeor appreciation of the organization or problems ofindustry.

The Need for New Vocational ObjectivesIn practice, industrial arts programs run the

whole gamut from providing "snap" courses fordabbling in a number of things to providingcourses with a definite vocational intent. In thelatter case the programs are operated withoutcorrelation with vocational education; therefore,the quality falls short of that needed to do acomplete job of occupational preparation. The pro-grams are frequently handicapped by lack of acontinuing plan from elementary through highschool, necessary commitment, time, and voca-tionally competent teachers needed to developmarketable skills.

Both industrial arts and vocational educationsuffer from the same malady, namely, lack of the.formulation of clear cut, specific objectives un-derstood and subscribed to by the instructors, aca-demic faculty, school administrators, parents, andthe general public.

A wide variety of orientation and exploratoryoccupational education programs could replacemore limited industrial arts and home economicssubjects commonly offered in the junior highschool. Some modification of the current indus-trial arts program is needed to achieve continuitywith occupational education. Vocational educa-tion and industrial arts may collaborate in pro-ducing pre-vocational programs to prepare for fu-ture-oriented vocational careers. These should bewidely available so that all students might beprepared for the world of work without asking forpremature commitment or limitation to a par-ticular occupation.

As students progress through broad-contentcourses in junior high school and the early years

of senior high school, subject matter may befocused and intensified. For some students, thecourses may prepare for immediate employmentin entry-type jobs; for others, the occupationalcourses would prepare for advanced training inpost-secondary institutions.

The proportion of the labor force in production

7

jobs has decreased to about 40 per cent. Attentionmust be paid to emerging fields for which thereare few pre-vocational programs in secondaryschools leading to post-secondary specialization.Among the neglected areas are hotel-motel-res-taure.nt management, communications, industrialtechnologies, architecture, city and county plan-ning, police and fire sciences, health technologies,and human services.

A fundamental change that has taken placein our culture is the acceleration of the rate ofaccumulation of knowledge. In addition, the viewis generally accepted that there is no place in themodern world for the uneducated and the un-trained and that there is only a slight differencebetween the uneducated and the undereducated,or the untrained and the undertrained. But intoo many instances our schools are based on aconcept that is increasingly inadequate, namelythat an individual can be prepared in four years,or eight years, for a continuous lifetime career.

Efforts should be directed toward providinga base for the development of an occupationally-oriented program for all students in grades 10to 12 and a skill development program for somein high school which will lead to further post-secondary on-the-job or in-school preparation forcareers. In this way every student can be en-couraged to make a tentative choice of an occu-pational objective and be given an opportunityand a means for achieving it. The educationalprogram once started must be continuous, withexpert counseling and guidance provided at thetime each student makes a change in his goal,and flexible to permit crossovers from one cur-riculum to another without penalty.

An educated person must have occupationalskills as well as intellectual knowledge. The ob-jectives and programs of all high schools shouldprovide opportunities for the development of vo-cational competence as well as preparation forpost-high school education. More basic than theacademic and vocational characteristics of theeducational program is the development in eachstudent of the ability and motivation for self-learning and continuing education.

Today we know that graduation is only thebeginning of learning for nearly everyone. It isimperative that we make available to all on acontinuing basis educational experiences that willmake it possible to cope with the changing tech-nology and the changing jobs in our economy.

If our educational system is to continue to bethe chief source for preparing youth for the worldof work, it must assume the responsibility forhelping youth make the transition from schoolto work. Our schools and colleges must make

orientation to the world of work and explorationin broad occupational fields integral parts of thetotal educational program of each individual aswell as specific training for some.

The strength of our society depends upon thefull development of every individual. Thus wemust gear our educational system to the conceptof continuing education in its broadest sense.

The Need for Funds, Stall and InnovationAmong the major deterents to innovation and

the organization of exemplary programs of occu-pational orientation and exploration in juniorhigh schools are lack of money, lack of an ade-quately trained teacher corps, and allegiance to asingle curriculum or program for everyone.

The allegiance to "one answer" may be over-come through demonstrated success within theframework of present institutional facilities. Theresults obtained in the demonstration programswill provide the specifications and characteristicsfor new facilities as well as modifications ofexisting educational practices which may be nec-essary.

Some elements of the occupational orientationand exploratory program are already being dem-onstrated successfully in several centers. Amongthese are Quincy, Massachusetts, where the em-phasis is on a continuous guidance and counselingprogram in grades 7, 8, and 9. In Norwalk, Con-necticut, a special school for dropouts and po-tential dropouts makes use of several "labora-tories," each staffed by a "shop" instructor and acounselor. The laboratories include libraries withprogrammed materials, to which a student goeswhen a need for additional academic learning isgenerated by shop or on-job experience. Parkers-burg, West Virginia, makes use of a counseling andguidance program that involves parents and jobplacement.

Nothing discussed in this article in connectionwith exploratory vocational programs is radical,and little is untried. It merely awaits generalacceptance and, as with many needed innovations,some additional funds. The federal money in-volved in all these programs, although significant,is really little more than seed money. The largerburden remains on the states and local schooldistrictswhere it belongs.

The role of the federal government is primarilyone of assistance to leadership in all of education,including specifically vocational and industrialarts education. Authority to promote the "ex-emplary programs" cited in this article would, inmy opinion, strongly bolster the ability of theU. S. Office of Education to provide this leader-

ship.

8COMPACT, JuNE 1968

Vocational Education In FederalLegislation: A Summary

Objectives Recommended inVocational Education Act of 1963

The Vocational Education Act of 1963 incor-porated an evaluation system, which includedperiodic appointment of an Advisory Council onVocational Education to appraise results underthe Act and recommend improvements, both inadministration and legislation.

The first Advisory Council, chaired by MartinW. Essex, State Superintendent of Schools inOhio, submitted its report entitled The Bridge be-tween Man and his Work to the Secretary ofHealth, Education, and Welfare in December,1967. The report listed a number of characteris-tics of an adequate system of vocational educationcapable of achieving the objectives of the 1963Act, including the following:

1. Occupational preparation should begin in elemen-tary school with a realistic picture of the worldof work, to familiarize the student and providehim with necessary intellectual tools and habitsof thought to play his role in it.

2. The junior high school program should involvestudy of the economic and industrial system withthe objective of exposure to the full range of oc-cupational choices.

3. Occupational preparation should become morespecific in the high school, though not limited tospecific occupations, with instruction built aroundsignificant families of occupations or industries.All students outside the college preparatory cur-riculum should acquire an entry-level job skillplus preparation for post-high school vocationaland technical education. College-bound studentsmay benefit from this training also.

4. Occupational education should be based on aspiral curriculum which treats concepts at higherand higher levels of complexity. Vocationalpreparation should make general education con-crete and understandable; general educationshould point up the vocational implications of alleducation.

5. Some formal post-secondary occupational prep-aration for all should be a goal for the near fu-ture. Because the labor force entrant withoutadvanced skills gained through post-secondaryeducation, apprenticeship, or on-the-job trainingwill soon be at a serious disadvantage, 14 years

of free public education, with a terminal occupa-tional emphasis, should be a current goal.

6. To bolster an upward occupational climb, part-time and full-time courses and programs shouldbe available to adults as part of the regular pub-lic school system.

7. Any occupation which contributes to the good ofsociety is a fit subject for vocational education.Although first attention must be paid to occupa-tions which offer expanding opportunities foremployment, adult instruction is justified evenin very restricted fields.

8. Occupational preparation should not be limited tothe classroom, school shop, or laboratory. Manyarguments favor training on the job.

9. The school must work with employers to build abridge between school and work, placing thestudent in a job and following up his successesand failures.

10. No matter how good the initial preparation andthe opportunities for upgrading on the job, theremust be remedial programs, which will differfrom preventive programs in that many studentswill require financial assistance and courses mustbe closely oriented to the labor market.

11. At every level there will be those with specialneeds as defined by the 1963 Act who, for bothhumanitarian and economic reasons, will deservespecial help.

12. Residential facilities will be needed to provide anadequate system of occupational preparationwherever their absence presents an obstacle toanyone in need of education and training. Manycommunities are too small to muster sufficientstudents for occupational offerings broad enoughto provide freedom of choice.

13. The public system for occupational preparationmust be supported by adequate facilities andequipment, by research and innovation, by thepreparation and upgrading of competent teachers,counselors, and administrators, and by constantevaluation and reporting of problems and ac-complishments.

14. Training opportunities must not be based on thenumber of jobs which are available but on thenumber of persons needing training. But datamust be made available on public and privatetraining opportunities, and data on supply anddemand for various occupations must be availableon a broader and more accurate basis.

The following chart is designed to relate thespecific recommendations of the Advisory Councilon Vocational Education (Essex Report) and theprovisions included in two legislative measurespending before the Congress. These are the Part-nership for Learning and Earning Act, submittedto Congress by President Johnson, and the Voca-tional Education Amendments of 1968, which wasintroduced by Representative Roman Pucinski,Chairman of the House General Subcommittee onEducation, with a number of co-sponsors.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968 9

MOP

Vocational Education In FederalREPORT OF THEADVISORYCOUNCIL ONVOCATIONALEDUCATION,1967(Essex Report)

Consolidation of all voc. ed.legislation

Permit matching of federalallotments on statewide Nth-er than area.by-area or proj-ect-by-project basis

Provision for states N receiveallotments earlier in thecalendar year & spend fundsthrough the succeeding fiscalyear

Funds to states on basis ofincentives for improvementand increased enrollment &attendance

PARTNERSHIPFOR LEARNINGAND EARNINGACT OF 1968

Consolidation of all voc. ed.legislation by 1970

Eliminate requirements forseparate state matching pur-pose.by.purpose and project-by-project with overall state-wide matching substituted

Extend advance funding fromESEA amendments of 197to voc. ed. programs

VOCATIONALAMENDMENTSOF 1968(Pucinski BUD'

111MVREPORT OF THEADVISORYCOUNCIL ONVOCATIONALEDUCATION,1967(Essex Report)

Eliminate matching by sep-arate categories; provide forstatewide matching of fed .eral funds

Authorize advance fundingfor voc. ed. programs

Authorization & funding forhomemaking education

25 percent of voc. ed. fundsfor post-secondary & adultprograms

Extend opportunity grant pro-gram of 1965 Higher Ed.Act to post-secondary voc-tech programs by settingaside 25 percent of the fundsappropriated for student as-sistance

PARTNERSHIPFOR LEARNINGAND EARNINGACT OF 1968

$15 million for home cc.1970

Lower min. eligible age for1966 Adult Ed. Act from 111to 16

VOCATIONALAMENDMENTSOF 1968(Pucinski Bill)2

Home ec. training$50 million in 1969 & in1970

REPORT OF THEADVISORYCOUNCIL ONVOCATIONALEDUCATION,1967(Essex Report)

Financial support for prep-aration & upgrading of pro-fessional & para-professionalpersonnel

Curriculum centers should beestablished

Creation of Cabinet-level De-partment of Education &Manpower Development

PARTNERSHIPFOR LEARNINGAND EARNINGACT OF 1968

Percentage of funds forteacher training & specialprojects under Adult Ed. Actfrom 10-20 percent to 2040percent

VOCATIONALAMENDMENTSOF 1968(Pucinski Bill)2

Teacher training fellowships,exchange programs, & insti-tutes; fellowships$25 mil-lion in 1969 & in 1970Other teacher programs$20 million-1969$30 million-1970

Develop, of voc. ed. curricula combining voc. & ac-ademic courses$7 million 1969$10 million 1970

information services to en-courage youths & adults toenter careers in voc. ed.$3.5 million 1969$4 million 1970

Creation of separate Bureauof Voc. Ed. in Off. of Ed.

I Appropriations listed are for fiscal years.2 Funding recommendations are given here only through fiscal 1970. The Bill contains provisions for additional years.

gislation: A Summary'

& authority for Parmaprograms for ersonsacademic, social, *co-or other handicaps

Permanent authority for sec-ondary & post-secondarywork-study programs

Residential voc. schools builtwith grants to or throughstate boards

learning Corps should beostablishod for economicallydisadvantaged youths

Include lob placement in ed-ucation responsibility for vo-cational students

earmarked for pro-m a for disadvantagedsing 1970 25% of

above 190 level

Provide moral authority toimprove lob placement ofstudents

pecial funds for dim!.ged, large cities & rural

especially; dropouts &played youthmillion 1969million 1970

25 percent of new fundsexisting programs ear-oil for disadvantaged

1) reauthorization of work-study provision of 1963 Act.$30 million in 1969 & in19702) New work-study ,ttogram,primarily for disadvantaged,90-10 matching$50 million-1969$100 million-1970

Iteauth. & provision for atleast one residential voc.school in each state, $10million 1969, $300 mil-lion 1970, 9010 match-ing channolod through stateboards

2 percent of funds for spe-cial programs for disadvan-tags/ reserved for learningCorps

vation encouraged byacts between Comm. of& state boards, localis & other public or

rofit institutions

Make 10 percent of fundsset aside for research avail .able for research. Allocatedby Comm. of Ed.

Prolected program activitiesshould become 5-year Plansublect to annual updating

States conduct periodic re-view & evaluation of theirprograms

U.S.0.11. submit annual Yoe.Ed. report to Congress &President-Nat'l AdvisoryCouncil should have fulltimestaff

miilion 1969 toBoards of Voc. Ed.,

I ed agencies, public &ate agencies, for seem-

programs

Retain present 10 percent re-search provision, uthorizeprivate contracts and fundsfor dissemination of informa-tion

Each state prepare 5-yr. voc.ed. plan & 1-yr. operationalplan, each updated annually

Each state create a State Ad-visory Council on Voc. Ed.,report to state, state board &Nat'l Advisory Council an-nually on state plan

Establish permanent Nat'l Ad-visory Council of Voc. Ed. toreport annually to Pres. &Congress; advise Comm. ofEd. on regulations & policymatters

mplary programsmillion 1969million 1970

Earmark for research up to States submit annual & 5- Each nate create State Ad- Creation of permanent Nat'l

10 percent of funds approp. year plans showing protect- visory Council to advise its Advisory Council on Voc. Ed.

for grants or contracts under ed development of voc. ed. State Rd. of Vac. Ed. & ovalu- with authority for own ox-1963 Voc. Ed. Act ate programs penses

Delete term "area" fromarea voc. facilities in 1963Act to avoid confusion

Appropriations should total$1.6 !pillion per year for 11million students served incl.2 million in home sc.

Pre-voc training & employ-ability.skiiis shout: be incl.in dot. of voc. ed.

Elim. ref. to "area" vowtional schools in the 1963 Act

Elimination of existing cell-ing of $225 million

nts for voc. school ii-constr., materials &

dy institutesor. $50 million 1970Of pro grams

$5 million 1969$25 million 1970

Together with 1969 budgot,funding at $290 million forcoming fiscal year$325 million for existingpros. In 1969$400 million 1970

Total authorization$775 million 1969$1.4 billion 1970

Crisis in Vocational Leadership

Excerpts from an address by Dr. Lowell Burkett, Executive Director of theAmerican Vocational Association, to the AVA convention in December, 1967.

We are in a period of crisis in vocational education;we lack leadership at all levels, most especially at thefederal level. As we stand at the crossroads, we seeminclined to move in many directions at once. We canno longer afford a piecemeal approach to vocationalinstruction for our young people and adults, and stop-gap measures and token efforts cannot be tolerated.

It is clear that our nation must now have a per-manent, universal, continuing program of vocationaleducation, readily available to all persons of all agegroups and levels of ability, wherever they may live.

The program of which we speak is a dramatic chal-lenge to all of us. It will require investments in fi-nancial and human regources far beyond the com-mitments that have been. made thus far. But the al-ternative is frightening. How do you calculate thd costto our nation in .huinan waste and failure and the costin dollars to support a growing proportion of unpro-ductive citizens?

We see no effort on the part of the Department ofHealth, Education, and Welfare to exert strong lead-ership in the field .of vocational education and man-power development. For example, the Vocational Edu-cation Act of 1963 called for the appointment of aNational Advisory Committee on Vocational Education,representative of education, business, industry, agri-culture, and labor. The Committee is supposed to ad-vise the Commissioner of Education with respect tothe administration of vocational education and othermatters affecting vocational education. During 1967,that Committee met only once, and then it had nospecific agenda but met jointly with the Advisory Coun-cil on Vocational Education.* At the present time, thereare four unfilled vacancies on the Committee.

Of the 15 individuals appointed to advise the Com-missioner of Education on training programs for edu-cational personnel, not a single one of them is, or hasever been, directly involved with vocational education.

Within the Department of Health, Education andWelfare, there is a Division of Vocational-TechnicalEducation which is a part of the Bureau of Adult, Vo-cational and Library Programs. The Division is solow in the bureaucratic structure that no one fromvocational education is present when national policiesare formulated. Yet millions of dollars are being pro-grammed for expenditure, in the name of vocationaleducation, and ambitious plans are being made to re-vamp and change vocational education.

While the summer fires flare and riots ravage ourland; while the schools continue to lose one-third oftheir students each year; with 30 per cent of the peoplein America's ghettos unemployed; with employers dailyissuing ads of "help wanted;" with the certainty thatunskilled jobs will continue to disappear; with a con-sistently increasing need for teachers of all types; withthe shortage of medical technicians and health workersso drastic that the treatment for the sick and chronically

*The 1963 Act established both a permanent AdvisoryCommittee and temporary Advisory Councils. The Ad-ministration's 1968 legislative proposal, the Partner-ship for Learning and Earning Act, would abolish theCommittee, make the Council permanant, and assignthe duties of both under the 1963 Act to the permanentCouncil.

12

ill is gravely impaired; with the knowledge that only20 per cent of our school students will ultimately com-plete four years of college, together with the factthat only one-fourth of our high school population isenrolled in vocational educationwith all these factsscreaming out at us daily from the newspapers and thetelevision screensthere isn't sufficient interest in theDepartment of Health, Education and Welfare to callan advisory committee together to find ways andmeans to mobilize the forces in vocational education tomake an impact on these problems.

State ParticipationThe federal investment in vocational education and

training in fiscal year 1968 is approximately $2 billiona year. Of this amount only $400 million was allocatedfor expenditure through the federal-state-local struc-ture that was created for the purpose of providing vo-cational education for America's citizens. Countlessnew agencies and organizations are being created bythefederal government to provide vocational technicaleducation.

And what is happening at the state level? The samepattern. We find separate boards administering thehigh school program of vocational education; still otherboards are operating vocational schools and communityjunior colleges. I heartily support the idea that voca-tional education should be a part of many differenttypes of institutions. But the fact remains that fromthe federal level right down to the state and locallevels, there is no structure for coordinating, planning,and implementing a total program of vocational edu-cation.

What Direction Should We Take?To truly serve all people in all communities will call

for significant new levels of federal support and federalleadership. The problem is too immense and too gen-eral to be left to local initiative alone. But it must beclear: no truly effective permanent change can bemade in our educational process without a full measureof local involvement and participation.

I will suggest a definition of what I envision as atotal commitment in vocational educationpermanent,universal, continuing, and available to all. Such aprogram should serve all persons in all communities re-gardless of their prior educational achievement, levelof ability, aptitude, or vocational aspiration. The in-struction must be appropriate and realistic in terms ofjob opportunities and readily available with respect tolocation, time, place, and level of educational pace andcontent.

Such a program, surely, must have solid roots inoccupational guidance and exploration in the practicalarts, some of which must begin in the lower elementarygrades. These programs must introduce students tothe world of work and should include the related knowl-edge and other subjects that help the student to developas a good citizen.

A total commitment to vocational education mustassure ample opportunities for vocational educationinstruction of high school youth in every rural andurban section of the country. The programs for themshould reflect the patterns of mobility of our nationaland regional populations; they should not be limited tothose occupations peculiar to one locality or another.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

A total commitment to vocational education mustprovide vocational education opportunities for highschool dropouts as well as graduates who lack the edu-cation and training for successful employment. Anothersizable group-dropouts from the two- and four-yearcolleges-want and will need to pursue occupationaltraining.

How much planning have you done in your statetoward the goal of providing vocational education op-portunities for all persons, of all ages, in all corn-

munities? Do you have a five-year plan, a ten-yearplan? Is the community involved in planning? Haveyou established Advisory Committees? Has your StateVocational Association advocated a legislative programto your governor and to your state legislature to im-plement your goals? What are you doing to createpublic support for your program?

Each of us will have to give that "extra effort" inorder to realize our goal of a permanent universal pro-gram of vocational education.

Federal Allotments to States for Vocational EducationFiscal Year 1968

Vocation& EducationVocational Education GeorgeBarden

Act of 1963 and suppl.acts

State grants Work-Study

Smith-Hughes

Act

Total $198,225,000 $10,000,000 $49,990,823 $7,161,455Alabama 4,589,666 197,787 1,140,849 143,330Alaska 243,040 15,881 259,576 30,000Arizona 1,842,665 83,735 279,450 51,789Arkansas 2,475,963 105,390 797,790 85,107California 14,917,026 919,639 2,549,008 534,067Colorado 1,992,977 101,059 434,455 66,744Connecticut 2,183,680 132,821 461,753 92,547Delaware 399,998 25,024 232,631 30,000Dist. of Columbia 543,244 31,280 228,058Florida 6,196,204 272,860 967,146 187,558

Georg ia 5,815,d82 247,836 1,291,071 172,456Hawaii 779,107 43,311 230,196 31,661Idaho 858,478 38,980 335,250 39,410Illinois 8,266,810 503,371 2,130,336 360,319Indiana 4,781,770 246,873 1,440,031 193,488Iowa 2,846,311 140,039 1,327,878 122,556Kansas 2,326,685 114,534 784,270 91,385Kentucky 4,089,596 175,651 1,324,728 143,135Louisiana 4,585,248 198,269 912,068 134,293Maine 1,173,870 51,011 310,388 48,182Maryland 3,350,943 185,275 666,815 118,672Massachusetts 4,492,554 251,686 822,089 179,461Michigan 7,778,655 427,817 1,798,634 297,765Minnesota 3,641,294 180,944 1,312,235 141,929Mississippi 3,137,749 137,633 1,163,305 107,308Missouri 4,535,632 216,555 1,390,638 173,605Montana 802,261 38,018 299,881 38,665Nebraska 1,474,594 71,223 642,728 64,271Nevada 326,107 19,249 228,058 30,000New Hampshire 697,660 32,724 228,058 34,050New Jersey 5,330,872 320,983 876,457 201,903New Mexico 1,267,614 57,748 245,693 43,107New York 13,539,820 819,542 2,700,384 575,316North Carolina 6,647,542 283,447 2,032,505 221,793North Dakota 811,763 35,611 434,085 42,740Ohio 9,903,582 516,364 2,201,568 369,365Oklahoma 2,969,877 126,083 735,384 96,258Oregon 1,991,915 100,578 508,946 73,613Pennsylvania 11,164,872 552,457 2,343,066 437,176Rhode Island 861,074 43,792 231,350 37,901

South Carolina 3,639,695 158,326 973,362 114,757South Dakota 817,192 36,093 436,475 42,940Tennessee 4,881,629 204,525 1,426,595 159,386Texas 12,676,680 563,525 2,357,417 359,602Utah 1,184,139 54,861 228,854 38,478Vermont 480,096 20,693 228,058 33,318Virginia 5,430,470 243,023 1,294,292 173,136Washington 2,955,581 161,213 723,517 113,306West Virginia 2,369,947 103,465 604,758 91,340Wisconsin 4,136,678 207,893 1,364,517 162,247

Wyoming 341,187 17,324 228,058 30,000Outlying areas' 3,677,106 165,979 1,815,109

COMpACT,

1 Includes funds transferredand reserves.

Source: American Education, April, 1968, U. S. Office of Education.

from Deportment of the Interior, Bureau

JUNE 1968

of Indian Affairs, technical services,

13

>Y.

The Governors Support VocationalLegislation

On March 11, 1968, Utah Governor Calvin L. Rampton, Chairman of theEducation Committee of the National Governors Conference and Chairmanof the Education Commission of the States, discussed the problems ofvocational-technical education with reference to the pending Partnershipfor Learning and Earning Act of 1968. Excerpts fo/low from GovernorRampton's statement before the House of Representatives General Sub-committee on Education. Since then, the Subcommittee Chairman, Con-gressman Roman Pucinski of Chicago, and 31 other sponsors have intro-duced a bill going beyond the administration proposal in both scope andfinancing.

No other area of education is of greater concernto the governors of the states and territories thanvocational education. The need for improved andexpanded vocational education is not only great,it is urgent.

Perhaps the best way for me to discuss thelegislation before the Committee will be in termsof problems and needs as recognized by the gov-ernors of the states and territories.

I. One of the most serious difficulties experi-enced by school officials at all levels in makingefficient use of federal funds has been the timingof the federal appropriation process which hascaused grants of funds to be made after the startof the school year and long after planning for theschool year must be completed. The Administra-tion has acted wisely in proposing to extend theearly funding provisions of the Elementary andSecondary Education Amendments of 1967 to theprovisions of the Partnership for Learning andEarning Act of 1968 (H.R. 15066) which affect theVocational Education Act of 1963. I am sure thatthe members of the Committee recognize theoverriding importance of extending the earlyfunding principle to vocational education.

II. Proliferation of categorical programs ofassistance has required states to maintain as manyas 26 separate accounts in vocational educationalone. The requirement that states match fundsby categories has introduced a high degree ofrigidity into state programs. It has resulted infederal dictation to the state budgeting processand in the program area without regard to themost urgent needs in individual states.

Further, different sets of regulations govern-ing the various categories of aid have intensifiedthe difficulties of coping with the system. These

14

problems have led to movement in support ofmore generalized federal aid to education at alllevels. The flexibility s and the simplificationwhich the bill would permit and the subsequentharmonization of regulations applying to voca-tional programs hold great promise for more effi-cient and effective operation at the state level.

III. Under existing legislation, state plans forvocational education have often been little morethan legal agreements between the states and thefederal government and state advisory councilshave been neither as broadly representative noras forceful as prevailing circumstances may re-quire. The proposal that states prepare vocationalprogram plans specifying their long-range ob-jectives, that these plans be updated annually, andthat operation under them be evaluated annuallyshould guarantee that they become genuine com-prehensive educational plans. The requirement forbroader representation on state advisory councilsand for substantial participation both by the coun-cils and the public in the planning and evaluationprocess should shift the responsibility for de-termining such matters as the proportions of fundsallocated for urban and for post-secondary pro-grams to the state level. Further, they shouldmake it possible to establish priorities and alloca-tions on the basis of the real needs of the indi-vidual states.

The proposed legislation would require eachstate to create an advisory council. State gov-ernments vary substantially in their structure.But they all have at least one condition in com-mon: the governor is the one official who all thecitizens hold responsible and at the same time theperson on whom all the citizens call to redressimbalances and grievances. I, therefore, propose

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

-.,11111

that this committee give serious consideration toamending the legislation to provide that the gov-ernors of the states and territories appoint thestate advisory councils.

IV. The governors of the states and territoriescan only express approval of the Administration'sproposal for the creation of a permanent NationalAdvisory Council on Vocational Education. Therecently issued report, entitled The Bridge between Man and his Work, by the Advisory Coun-cil on Vocational Education appointed pursuantto the requirements of the Vocational EducationAct of 1963, is an excellent statement of the pre-vailing circumstances in vocational education andof how we can meet our urgent needs in thisfield. The Administration has moved in t e rightdirection with the provision that the Councilwould become a permanent body of 15 members,to be appointed by the Secretary of Health, Edu-cation, and Welfare.

V. There is a great need for innofield of vocational education. Myis to applaud the intent of Title I of tvocational education bill and to can expression of hope that the fedwill not, either in legislation or irestrict the states in their effways to meet old needs andneeds.

VI. The need for reseagrams, I believe, is obvious.need for information aboprograms. There has beefforts and responsibilitivocational students. Itlimit of adult educatioduced. All these needministration bill andwith them.

VII. In view oin the Advisory Cstudy programs aCommittee to coprograms may bundertaken.

So

vation in thepurpose here

he President'suple that with

eral governmentn administration,

orts to find newways to meet new

rch funds and pro-There is also a great

ut ongoing vocationalen dissatisfaction withes in job placement ofas been felt that the age

n programs should be re-s are recognized in the Ad-proposals are made to deal

f the strong recommendationouncil report for both work-

nd residential schools, I urge thensider carefully how work-study

e continued and residential schools

tiHopefully, the movement toward consolida-

on and simplification might be applied to theserograms with a view toward reducing the com-

plexity faced by state and local officials and thenumber of federal bureaus with which they arerequired to deal.

VIII. My final point deals with the insuffi-ciency of funding which characterizes federal vo-cational programs and the resulting overmatchingof funds on the part of the states and dispropor-tionate share borne by local communities. Avail-able figures indicate that of the approximately $1billion now spent annually for activities classifiedas vocational education, state and local govern-ments provide nearly three-quarters. There islittle doubt that the states and local governmentsare unable to make the massive increases in vo-cational expenditures that would be required tomeet our real needs in this area. There must bean increase in the federal contribution if the na-tion is not to fall behind.

The report of the Education Committee of theNational Governors' Conference addressed thefunding problem and made the following recom-mendation:

". . . in the face of mounting evidence thatvocational and technical education may wellbe the field of our greatest unmet educa-tional needs, given the high unemploymentand unrest among our urban youth and thenecessity for continual retraining among thelabor force, we further recommend that theConference call upon the Administrationand the Congress to increase substantiallythe funding to be provided under the Part-nership for Learning and Earning Act of1968."

Perhaps more compelling is a single sentencefrom the recommendation of the Advisory Coun-cil:

"It is our unanimous conviction that nosounder investment can be made by thecitizens of the United States than thisaninvestment in their own, their children'sand their economy's future."

PROJECTED EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF THE U. S. LABOR FORCEIN 1975 FOR WORKERS 25 YEARS AND OVER

dueational Attainment

Total

AllWorkers 25 Yearsof age and over

100%25-34

116e6i35-44Yoed

45-54Yoecal

55-64'11316

65 years;V.;Elementary School or Less 19 8 16 22 30 38Less than 8 years 10 4 9 12 15 198 years 9 4 7 10 15 19Some High School 21 21 21 21 20 17High School Diploma 33 37 34 34 30 18Some College 12 13 12 11 10 13Baccalaureate or better 15 21 17 12 10 14

urce: Manpower Report of The President, 1967, reprinted in Thenited States.

COMPACT, JurrE 1968

Emerging Labor Force, Chamber of Commerce of the

15

Proposals for State Action in

Occupational Education

In a report entitled "Changing the Contexts in Which OccupationalEducation Takes Place", the Education Commission's Task Force on Voca-tional-Technical Education outlined a theoretical framework and alternativeorganizational means for bringing about improvement in the field. Dr. LeonP. Minear, formerly Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction and nowdirector of the Division of Vocational and Technical Education in the U.S.Office of Education, served as Task Force chairman. A summary of thegroup's proposals follows.

We propose:1. That a Human Resources Council be established

in each state.The membership would consist of heads of thosedepartments of state government that each statedeemed appropriate, plus key lay citizens. TheChief State School Officer may serve as ExecutiveSecretary.The Council's responsibility would be to developlong range goals with a view toward adding thecommunity context for education to the present"school" context and relating the two.The following principles may guide the Councilas it leads in setting the states' educational goals:A. Priority. Education should be given first prior-

ity in the allocation of human and materialresources.

B. Community Involvement. Education should beextended outward from the school to the entirecommunity. Citizens can be involved as advisorson policy and programs, as tutors in and out of"school," as resource persons, and as studentsthemselves.

C. Extension of School Day and School Year.Schools, as resource centers for learning forstudents of all ages, should operate from 8 a.m.to midnight every week of the year.

D. Flexible Termination, Re-entry, and Advance-ment. The formal school-leaving age should bemade flexible so that the individual, as hereaches the maturity to either go on to collegeor a job, may do so with the assurance thatpursuit of a liberal education can continue alongwith career development, throughout life. Bothdropouts and graduates whose skills becomeobsolete could be welcomed back into this kindof system to take up where they once left off,without fear of new failure.

E. Individualization of Instruction. No limitationsor inhibitions should be placed summarily onlearning because of age, ability, or other factors.Rather, learning experiences should be plannedto meet the needs of the individual.

F. Followup and Feedback. Effectiveness of edu-cational programs should be continuously eval-uated through a followup of all students for anindefinite period and securing feedback on howwell the programs are serving their consumers.Such information can be used for program re-development and improvement as well as forcontinual escalation of individual skills.

The Council would establish and coordinate thework of state-level commissions which would con-centrate upon bringing contextual reform to edu-cation in each of the following areas: occupational,social, cultural, political, and intellectualbegin-ning with occupational.

2. That an Occupational Education Commission beestablished in each state, with counterparts inLocal Community Advisory Councils. (Each statenow has a Vocational Education Advisory Councilestablished under Public Law 88-210. The Occupa-tional Education Commission could be the samebody, or a reconstituted body, and be asked toassume the responsibilities set forth in this sectionof the report.)The Commission would be a top-level group,broadly representative, including members fromlabor and management in the private sector, aswell as from public service. The State VocationalEducation Director may serve as Executive Secre-tary. The Commission would have a full-time pro-fessional and clerical staff.The Commission's responsibility would be to pro-vide leadership and stimulate development of voca-tional-technical education programs designed to

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achieve the goals defined in cooperation with theHuman Resources Council, with attention to suchfactors as:

Existing vocational-technical programs in thestate upon which improved programs can bebuilt.Size and ecological characteristics of the com-munities in the state - metropolitan, urban-rural, and rural.Identification of individual dropouts and poten-tial dropouts as well as unemployed and under-employed adults. With this group, specific train-ing and job entry are of key importance. Thisshould be the target population for initial ef-forts in contextual reform; then the identified"passive" youngsters, and ultimately all theyoungsters and adults who can benefit.

Through its counterparts, the Local CommunityAdvisory Councils on Vocational-Technical Educa-tion, the Commission would cooperate with localand intermediate school districts and lay citizensto:

Survey human resources-state, institutional,group, and individual.Identify, establish, and staff "learning stations"-in order to induct youth and adults into pro-grams including, but not limited to, "school."Develop exploratory and tryout experiences,extend the school day and year, provide forflexible termination and re-entry, identify andprepare lay instructors, and develop new cur-ricula.Provide, in cooperation with business, industry,and other agencies, for followup and placementof students.

3. That a Manpower Coordinating Committee beestablished in each state.The composition of the committee should providefor high-level representation of labor and manage-ment, and of the appropriate state agencies.The committee's responsibility would be to effectmaximum system-cost effectiveness in the utiliza-tion of the various occupational and job trainingprograms.The Committee's primary function should be co-ordinative rather than administrative, with theactual implementation of the education and train-ing programs being the responsibility of the appro-priate agency.

A state may elect to have this committee operateas a subcommittee of the Occupational EducationCommission, or separately, with close working re-lationships with the Commission.

4. That each state consider the establishment of aTask Force for Occupational Education and Eco-nomic Development.This Task Force would draw specialists from ap-propriate existing state agencies (including theDepartment or Division of Economic Develop-ment), labor, management, and the new groupsproposed above.The responsibility of the Task Force would be tohelp build up the state's industrial output throughnew or expanded industries. This would be doneby means of providing information to assist indus-tries in considering the state as a site, providinga pool of trained workers, and/or making availableundeveloped (or underdeveloped) workers whocan be trained for jobs provided by new industries.A state may want to consider this kind of specialoccupational education service if it seems likelythat through its use the income of the state couldbe substantially increased. The Task Force couldoperate as a subcommittee of the OccupationalEducation Commission, or separately.

5. That Regional Learning Centers be established ineach state in Intermediate Education Districts orCounty School Offices or other regional educa-tional organizations in the state.The Centers would be staffed with student per-sonnel specialists who would work with sociolo-gists, economists, and cultural and political leadersto synthesize educational planning for the region.The Local Community Advisory Councils describedin Proposal No. 2 above would work closely withthe Centers.The responsibility of the Centers would be to pro-vide leadership in development of broad, inter-disciplinary curricula that are responsive to theneeds of society and the individual and geared tothe resources of the region.The results of this planning would be used bycounselors in diagnosis and prognosis for individuallearners, and by master teachers in planning com-plementary educational experiences in specificfields.

Median Years of School Completed by Workers18 Years of Age and Older

March, 1966Occupation Total

By ColorWhite Nonwhite

Total 12.3 12.3 10.5Professional, technical 16.3 16.3 16.5Managerial, proprietary 12.6 12.7 12.4Clerical 12.5 12.5 12.6Sales 12.5 12.5 12.2Skilled craftsmen 11.9 11.9 10.5Service workers (except in households) 11.4 11.7 10.6Semiskilled operatives 10.7 10.8 10.1Unskilled laborers 9.5 10.0 8.6Private, household workers 8.9 9.3 8.6Farmers, farm managers and laborers 8.8 9.0 5.9

Source: Manpower Report of The President, 1967, reprinted in The Emerging Labor Force, Chamber of Commerce of the U. S.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968 17

ECS COMMISSIONERS SPEAK OUT:

Federal, State and Private Industry Responsibilityin Voc-Tech Education

HAROLD BERGQUIST, Assistant Principal of Red RiverHigh School in Grand Forks, North Dakota, calls fora more active federal role in financing vocational-technical education and greater reliance on nationalresearch and cooperative agreements to coordinatetraining with job opportunities across the country.

American economic personnel are continuallyundergoing training or re-training for societalservice which projects beyond the confines of thestate in which such preparation occurs. NorthDakota's largest vocational-technical school, forexample, reports that only 25 per cent of employerdemands for its 1967 graduates originated in thestate.

Since many states do not offer a labor marketfor the personnel whose training they have pro-vided, the federal government should becomea more active collector of revenue and distribu-tor of funds. Distribution of funds should bebased on formulae which promote equalizationof educational support. In addition, the federalgovernment should continue to support germaneresearch and to provide consultant service.

State governments have major responsibilityfor program development, but they should utilizethe services of federal agencies and private in-dustry to ascertain the relevance of curriculumto the needs of the whole economy. Too, thereis need for groups of states to provide compre-hensive training by implementation of cooperativeagreements.

The primary responsibility of industry is thatof assuring the appropriateness of vocational-technical education through financing related re-search, personnel re-training efforts, and pilotprojects. Finally, investment in human develop-ment deserves priority over capital investment infuture industrial tax legislation.

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DR. PAUL R. HAAS, a member of the Governor's Com-mittee on Public School Education in Texas, indicatesthat the states should assume the major responsibilityfor vocational-technical education but notes the im-portant roles to be assumed by other levels of govern-ment and private industry and the need for a centralplanning organization.

The state should accept the major responsibilityfor vocational-technical education. Program prep-aration and financial incentives should besupervised from existing state educational organ-izations, thus assuring coordination with othereducational activities.

The federal government can serve in accumu-lating and disseminating country-wide informa-tion covering estimated future needs in the voca-tional-technical field. When it becomes obviousthat particular deficiencies in supply are develop-ing, then temporary stimulants from the federallevel are in order.

The school district or lowest-level political sub-division should plan to house and operate therudimentary portions of the vocational-technicalprogram. The mobility of our citizenry is suchthat advanced programs and financing on a localdistrict level to meet only community needs areunrealistic.

Industry itself must anticipate and create itsown development programs for specific highlytechnical employee requirements where quanti-tatively there is no realistic justification for polit-ical subdivisions to assume that burden.

In order to assure cooperative efforts and avoidduplication of services and facilities in vocational-technical education, there is a necessity for sometype of state or multi-state planning organizationwhich would be representative of all participatinggovernment and industrial levels.

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DR. ROY E. LIEUALLEN, Chancellor of the OregonState System of Higher Education, outlines the specificroles which the federal government and the statesshould assume in the vocational education field andnotes that financial support should be shared by alllevels of government.

Although "partnership" is a term made trite byoveruse, it reflects what must be the continuingrelationship of the federal government and thestates in the field of vocational-technical educa-tion. Each has it's unique capacities. Each hasits role.

Under federal aegis, continuing, systematicanalysis should be made for the purpose oftranslating available information into prior-ities for vocational-technical preparation pro-grams for the nation.

Within each state, appropriate state agenciesand institutions should, as an aspect of overalleducational planning, develop a state planfor vocational-technical educationa planwhich will reflect the wide-ranging abilitiesand interests of the individuals to be servedand the vocational-technical demands of thenation.

The federal government should provide con-tinuing consultative help to the states as re-quested, as a means of helping to upgradevocational-technical education. This stimula-tion is critical.

The federal government, working with thestates, ought periodically to provide for asystematic national review and evaluation ofthe effectiveness and relevance of existingvocational-technical programs to the needsof the nation and of the individuals beingserved. The states have an obligation toevaluate, on a continuing basis, the mean-ingfulness of the vocational-technical prep-aration programs they offer, but periodically,

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

at the national level, we need an assessmentof vocational-technical education in terms ofthe changing national scene.

The preparation of teachers and administra-tors in vocational-technical education shouldbe the responsibility of the states.

The financial support of vocational-technicaleducation should be shared by the federalgovernment, the states and the localities.Federal funding must be substantial, con-tinuous, dependable.

BERTRAM L. BAKER, Chairman of the EducationCommittee of the New York State Assembly, suggeststhat greatly increased federal aid to vocational-techni-cal schools is essential but that primary planning re-sponsibilities should be vested in the states.

It is the responsibility of government, bothfederal and state, that all citizensfrom the leastable and the disadvantaged to those with thehighest level of technical abilityhave access toeducational training high in quality and realisticin terms of employment opportunities.

Vocational education in the public schools isthe chief source of formal job training in theUnited States and may only be advanced througha tri-partite effort of federal and state govern-ment and of private industry. Greatly increasedfederal aid to permit expansion of vocational edu-cation at all levels is a must. Since vocationaleducation should be closely geared to an area'semployment requirements, the state must havethe responsibility for planning its own vocationaleducation programs and of constantly evaluatingthem in light of current and projected manpowerneeds as supplied by private industry. Local needsmust, of course, be supplemented by a longerrange appraisal of occupational trends in broadregions and in the country as a whole.

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FRANK G. DICKEY

Voluntary Quality Control ForVocational-Technical Schools

Mr. Dickey is the executive director of the National Commission onAccrediting. The concern evidenced in his statement has been promptedby rapid increase in the number both of vocational-technical schools andof accrediting organizations and methods. With no agreement on the contentof or standards for vocational-technical schools, and yet with a growingcompetition to qualify for federal funding, the question of new statelegislation in the field or some form of vo/untary contro/ has attractedheightened attention.

No area of education in this nation is growingmore rapidly than the vocational-technical-occu-pational sector. Because these programs are de-signed to serve the needs of society in a very directmanner, the schools undertaking the vocationaland technical programs present a wide variety intypes and organizational patterns. Some are a partof the comprehensive secondary school; othersare separate technical or vocational schools orinstitutes; and some are a part of the communitycollege program. Although most of the new schoolsare publicly supported, there are some privatelysupported schools, and there is a wide variety ofproprietary institutions in the occupational do-main.

Obviously, some form of quality control isnecessary and desirable; yet, no nationwide systemof accrediting for many of these schools and pro-grams is universally available at this time. As aconsequence, many states are viewing with someconcern the burgeoning programs and are con-templating the establishment of state approachesto accreditation.

Meeting Standards of QualityAmong the many purposes which have been

ascribed to the accreditation of institutions servingthe public, three stand out: (1) to measure asobjectively as possible the adequacy and effi-ciency of institutional and specialized programs;(2) to afford a degree of protection to institutions,to faculties, to students, and to the general public;and (3) to show schools how to correct their de-ficiencies. The comprehensive program of accred-iting, with all of its complexities, is fundamentallynecessary if there is ever to be any assurance thatthis combination of activities will remain withinthe voluntary sector of governance.

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It is imperative that we view accrediting notjust as a function protecting the quality, freedom,and integrity of the institution and its programs,but also as a vehicle to serve the welfare of thenation where such service is needed. It is quiteclear that organizations such as the nationallyrecognized accrediting associations cannot affordto serve only the institutions themselves; nor canthey serve effectively if they recognize only asegment of post-secondary education and ignoreother parts. It seems desirable to shift some ofthe emphases in our approach to accreditationproblems for, if predictions are correct, the timewill arrive when it will be increasingly difficult todistinguish technical education from certain areasof collegiate education and the differences be-tween proprietary and nonprofit schools will be-come fewer and fewer.

Accreditation Beyond State LevelFor many years, state departments of educa-

tion or other state agencies have approved oraccredited institutions in a large number of states.But the rapid expansion of all types of educationalprograms and institutions has increased the needfor regional and national standards. This needhas led to voluntary or extra-legal accreditationof two types:

(1) Accreditation by national specialized organ-izations of programs of professional or spe-cialized study was begun by the AmericanMedical Association in 1906. Professional ac-creditation is now conducted in over 30 dif-ferent fields by nationally recognized organi-zations. These are recognized by the NationalCommission on Accrediting or by the UnitedStates Commissioner of Education.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

(2) Accreditation of institutions or schools bythe regional associations of schools and col-leges was undertaken first in about 1913.General accreditation is now conducted byall six of the nation's regional associations,which have recently formed the Federationof Regional Accrediting Commissions ofHigher Education to establish national poli-cies for regional application.

Voluntary accreditation of these two types isa uniquely American device. Through it, educa-tional institutions cooperate with each other andwith professional organizations to set and assurestandards for programs instead of relying pri-marily on state and federal regulation. Indeed,many state and federal agencies us well as privateorganizations and individuals have come to relyupon the judgment of these voluntary accreditingassociations.

At the same time, such associations protectsociety against inadequately prepared professionalor specialized practitioners, help licensing authori-ties and facilitate the transfer of students. Theaccrediting bodies aid institutions in withstandingimproper political or other educational pressures,and they stimulate broad consideration of educa-tional problems and issues of more than local orstate concern.

Need for Accrediting Mechanismsfor Vocational Schools

Although, in view of the present lack of re-gional or national accrediting mechanisms forvocational institutions, it might seem advisableto develop accrediting procedures for each of thestates, such a move would be detrimental to thebest interests of the total American educationalscene. With the possibility of fifty different ap-proaches and separate sets of criteria, confusionwould run rampant. Certainly, state approval ofschools and programs is effectively utilized bymany states to improve education, and it doesafford recognition to institutions and programswithin state boundaries. However, this age ofgreat student mobility calls for regional and na-tional accrediting procedures. In many instances,state approval agencies have been organized andstructured to serve as a stepping stone to, orpreparation for, regional and specialized program-matic accreditation. This kind of state approvalis helpful, but it is totally different from theconcept of "state accreditation only" which couldeasily stifle the tremendous advances which havebeen made through free interchange among insti-tutions in different states and regions.

The best type of relationship is one in whichthe regional and specialized accrediting associa-tions recognize the place and value of state ap-proval agencies, and in turn, the states understand

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

the need for and the unique role of regional andspecialized accrediting agencies.

Importance of Voluntary AccreditationThe growing extent of federal government par-

ticipation in the development of occupationalschools and programs demands new and realisticpositions on the part of the accrediting associa-tions. Probably no issue in American educationposes a greater problem than the juxtapositionof the tradition of freedom for institutions andthe availability of funds through federal agencies.Our institutions must develop a position of co-operative interaction with the political agenciesand at the same time retain that degree of inde-pendence which has characterized American edu-cation through the years.

The idea of voluntary accreditation is of ex-treme importance at this moment in our nation'shistory. Most societies have some form of accredi-tation for educational programs. But only in oursis accrediting voluntary and nongovernmental.

The accrediting associations are large, broadlybased operations depending upon the principles ofself-regulation and self-control reflected throughcooperatively devised standards arrived at by theconsent of all the constituent organizations. These,we believe, can be depended upon to preserve edu-cation as an essential force in a society of freemen.

ECS COMMISSIONERS SPEAK OUT:

Coordination of Voc-Tech Education at the State Level

GOVERNOR SPIRO T. AGNEW of Maryland outlinesthe advantages of coordinating vocational educationthrough the central position of the State Departmentof Education.

The modern concept of a total program ofvocational education demands that vocational-technical programs, facilities, and services be pro-vided for all persons at all levels from early child-hood through adult life. For maximum, effective-ness vocational education must be a vital and in-tegral part of the total educational system. TheState Department of Education is the only cen-tral agency in a position to converge the educa-tional resources of the state on the problems of achanging society.

The coordinating agency must involve regionaland statewide structures through formal, com-mitted, interlocking memberships to provide sup-port and programs on a local and state basis.

The key to coordination is planning with theappropriate supporting technology. The applica-tion of a simplified formula where financial in-put determines educational output permits a wiseallocation of resources.

The dissemination of information concerningvocational education is vital to the efforts of thecoordinating agency. Legislators can be assistedand the general citizenry can become informed toenable them to intelligently examine and interpretand to make the decisions required of them to pro-vide a total program of vocational education.

MERLE E. ALLEN, Director of the Utah State Coor-dinating Council of Higher Education, stresses the needto coordinate vocational-technical education programsthrough (a) the state higher education coordinatingagency, (b) the state department of education, or (c)both.

So great the need for central planning andorderly dew prnent of post-high school educationthat 38 of the 50 states have established someform of central planning or coordinating agencyfor this purpose. Because vocational-technicaleducation is even more diverse than general edu-cation or preprofessional work, the tendency to-ward proliferation and diffusion of course effortis great Sand the risk of early obsolescence of skillsdeveloped threatens to erode the value of pro-grams. If vocational-technical education is to beprovided in an orderly manner, it is essential thatit be inCluded in statewide plans for secondaryand higher education.

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It is the vogue to set up in many communitiesjunior colleges designed to offer "a full program"in vocational-technical training as a primary func-tion. All too often these schools are located incommunities so small that economical volumeproduction is difficult or impossible. But if voca-tional-technical courses were to be taught onlywhen fully justified by local community need,in many cases few if any courses would be offered.Here again it is evident that the total state needis the key to logical action.

State support is essential to adequate voca-tional-technical services, but it should discourageproliferation, extensive duplication of services,and unnecessary investment. Either the state'shigher education coordinating agency or the StateDepartment of Education or both should be in-volved in designing vocational-technical educa-tion in such a way as to provide a quality pro-gram at reasonable cost and properly suited to theneeds of the state.

DR. JOHN A. SNIDER, Executive Secretary of theIdaho School Trustees Association, argues that, to main-tain creative patterns of development, vocational-tech-nical education should be coordinated by state-wideefforts which are independent of the established sys-tems of both elementary-secondary education and high-er education.

Vocational-technical education must, if it' isto be effective in meeting the needs of individuals,have flexibility and freedom in developing train-ing programs at the secondary, post-secondaryand adult levels. It cannot be controlled by thetwo long-established educational systemsele-mentary/secondary education and higher educa-tion. Vocational-technical education, a third ma-jor thrust, must work with all existing education-al activities but still maintain specific objectivesof preparing individuals for entrance into or prog-ress within a given occupation. Major deterrentsto the effectiveness of vocational-technical edu-cation include tradition; efforts to absorb it intothe two established systems; and unwillingness torecognize it as a distinct thrust with educationalmerit.

Coordination can, if we disregard the conceptthat all education must fit into one of the two es-tablished systems, be attained by the efforts of asingle statewide educational board or by manda-tory cooperative efforts of those in charge of ele-mentary and secondary, higher and vocationaleducation.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

NORMAN C. HARRIS

Occupational Education, Middle Manpowerand the Junior College

Professor of Technical Education at the University of Michigan's Center forthe Study of Higher Education, Mr. Harris was previously dean of tech-nical-vocational education at Bakersfield College in California. Author ofseveral textbooks and frequent contributor to professional journals, he isconsulting editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company's Technical Educa-tion Series.

If the impact of technology teaches us any-thing at all, it teaches that some cherished beliefsabout education are utterly false. The idea isdead that liberal arts education is for the few,for the cultured and ruling elite, and that mechan-ical arts or practical education is for those whowill work and be ruled. After a thousand yearswe must come to the realization that higher edu-cation is a driving force for the economic andcultural development of nations. In modern in-dustrialized societies, rich and poor alike work;and those with the greatest amount of educationare quite likely to work the hardest. One canpredict a reversal of Aristotle's "education forleisure" idea in our time by noting that the onlysure guarantee of leisure today is a lack of edu-cation.

In a prior time occupations could, for the mostpart, be classified in three categories: professionaland/or managerial, requiring academic and theo-retical education; trade and craft, demanding along period of apprenticeship; and common laborjobs, needing only physical strength and a willto work.

As a result of the technological revolution,however, a complete new spectrum of occupationshas developed in between the professional andmanagerial jobs on the one hand and the tradeand craft jobs on the other. These new "semi-professional" jobs have increased by the hundredsof thousands in the past three decades until todaysuch segments of the economy as industry, busi-ness, agriculture, health and medicine, and publicservice are almost as dependent on the contribu-tions of semi-professional and technical personnelas they are on the work of professionals them-selves.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

The Spectrum of Middle ManpowerLoosely defined, "middle manpower" can be

described as that portion of the total manpowerspectrum which is concerned with jobs with abalanced cognitive-manipulative content. At oneend of the middle manpower "band" are jobswhich are nearly professional in nature (e.g. sci-ence research technician). At the other end arejobs closely related to the skilled trades (e.g. tele-vision service technician). In general (but thereare many exceptjons), middle manpower occupa-tions require post-high school education and train-ing of one, two, or three years, but for most abaccalaureate degree is not a requirement forentry into the job nor for successful performanceon the job.

Six fields of occupational education are com-monly encountered in the associate-degree pro-grams of community junior colleges: agriculture,business, health, engineering/industry, science re-search, and service occupations.

It is entirely realistic to estimate that thereare this year well over 10 million persons in themiddle manpower segment of the labor force.Serious shortages of professionals in almost allfields indicate that the demand for semi-profes-sionals will continue to increase. It is a relativelysafe prediction that by the mid-1970's one personin every five in the labor force will be engagedin work within the middle manpower spectrum.

Where will these millions of persons be edu-cated and trained? Some college graduates will,for a variety of reasons, gravitate toward semi-professional jobs. And, without doubt, significantnumbers of high school graduates will, throughon-the-job training combined with evening coursesor correspondence study, move into semi-profes-sional and technical jobs. But the vast majority

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of the semi-professional workers of the future willbe educated and trained in the two-year collegesof America. The decade of the 1970's will see theassociate degree firmly established as the recog-nized educational base for semi-professional andtechnical jobs, just as the high school diplomais now looked upon as the minimum educationalstandard for entry into skilled trades and craftsjobs. In most states, by 1975 half of all high schoolgraduates will be "going on to college" in two-year colleges (in some states this figure is alreadyover 60 per cent), and perhaps half of all thesewill be in occupational programs.Characteristics and Functions of theCommunity Junior College

Every state now has one or more two-yearcolleges in operation, and some states (Californiawith 87, New York 64, Florida 31, and Michigan28) can boast that there is a junior college withincommuting distance of 70 to 90 per cent of col-lege age youth. Nationally, there were 648 pub-lic two-year colleges in operation in 1966 and264 private colleges. These 912 colleges enrolledmore than 1.67 million students, both youth andadults, in 1967. One student in every four begin-ning his program of higher education in the fallof 1967 did so in a junior college.

For the past five years new two-year colleges,mostly of the publicly supported variety, havebeen established at a rate of from 30 to 50 peryear. Seventy-two new public institutions openedtheir doors to students during 1967. If the samefactors which have conditioned this phenomenalgrowth in the recent past continue to existandthere is no reason to suppose that they will not,it is quite probable that the year 1972 will seemore than 1,000 two-year colleges in operationenrolling as many as 2.5 million students.1

A brief look at the purposes and programs ofthe public junior college may be helpful. Gen-eralities are risky but much of the following ap-plies to most public communty colleges:

1 Tuition charges are nominalin some states en-tirely absent.

2. Admission standards are not restrictive. In manystates the "open door" policy is in effectanyhigh school graduate or any person over eighteenmay be admitted to the college. (Admissionto specific courses or programs, however, is con-trolled.)

3. A lower division program of arts and sciences(the "transfer program") is offered for thosestudents whose goal is a baccalaureate degree.

4. A comprehensive program of one-year and two-year programs in occupational education is of-fered for those students whose immediate goalis employment.

5. Considerable emphasis is placed on general edu-cation, both in the college-parallel program andin the two-year associate degree occupational pro-grams.

6. Guidance and counseling are provided for allstudentsyouth and adults, day and evening.

1 Data from 1968 Directory, Amerienn Annoeintion of Jun-ior College's: AAJC, 1315 Sixteenth Street, Washington, D. C.

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7. A program of continuing education and com-munity service is offered. Frequently it involvesgreater numbers of persons than are enrolled inthe regular-day classes.

8. In many states control is vested in a local boardof trustees elected by the people of the juniorcollege district. Typically, the student, the localdistrict, and the state share in the cost of annualoperation; and the state and local district sharethe capital expenditures. Some states have re-cently established "state systems" of communitycolleges with control of all operations beingvested in a state board and its executive officers.

The Associate DegreeJob training per se is not the sole or even the

most important ingredient in associate degree oc-cupational educational programs. All college-leveloccupational educational programs should andmost dopresent a well balanced "mix" of spe-cialized technical courses, background theory andsupporting courses, and general education courses.Though we live in an increasingly machine-orient-ed society, man himself is not a machine. Anycollege-level educational program should incor-porate some degree of confrontation between stu-dents and the ideas men have reflected aboutthrough the centuries. Experience seems to indi-cate that education and wisdom are positively cor-related, and that the closer one's life work is toprofessional pursuits, the greater is the need forliberal, humanistic, and theoretical content inone's education.

This content, for associate-degree junior col-lege programs, ordinarily includes:

1. A general education core required of all students.About one-fourth of the two-year program is devotedto this core, which broadens the educational base ofstudents and assists them in adapting to changing oc-cupational and social conditions, and in becoming ac-tive, useful citizens in a free society.

2. A basic theory-and-supporting-subject core ,unique to each "family" of occupational programs. Math-ematics, physics, biology, chemistry, economics, gra-phics, and others are found in this core which com-prises at least one-fourth of the total credit hours.

3. Specialized courses for the chosen occupationalfield, selected and planned to produce occupationalcompetence at a semi-professional level of perform-ance. Approximately one-half of the program shouldbe in specialized technical courses.

Quantitatively, associate degree occupationalprograms should produce competent graduates intwo academic years with a total of about 62semester credit hours of work, if the entering stu-dents were really ready to begin college courses.Realistically,most students need some remediation,and consquently the associate degree programusually involves some 70 to 76 hours.

The Case for General EducationMuch controversy exists over the value of gen-

eral education in post-high school occupationaleducation programs. Some persons, and amongthem are many vocational educators, feel thattime spent on general education in the junior col-lege will hinder the development of real job corn-

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

petence. "Technical students," according to thisview, must concentrate on job preparation andleave the realm of ideas to those in academicfields, in other words, to an intellectual elite.

Junior college educators generally do notsubscribe to this view. Man's basic problem isreally himself, his beliefs, his loves and hates, hisrelationships with others. The concept of elites,including intellectual elites, is useless if not ac-tually dangerous in 20th Century American so-ciety. If there is a body of knowledge concernedwith the "good life" and made up of content fromthe humanities, sciences, and the arts, which isgood for some students, then to some degree atleast, and at some (perhaps reduced) level ofabstraction, this liberal or general education isgood for all students.

Eric Hoffer, the San Francisco longshoreman-philosopher, sternly warns us against entrustingmuch power to an intellectual elite. If the peopleare to be free, he wisely counsels, knowledge, un-derstanding, and power must reside with the peo-ple.

If we believe in education at all, and there isample evidence that Americans have made com-mitments to education far beyond those made byany people in the history of the world, we mustbelieve that general education has value for allcitizens, including those whose work may behighly specialized. Most persons work for lessthan half their waking hours. The quality of theirresponses during their "living time" is certainlyas important as the competence of their actionsduring their "working time."Quality Within Diversity

The comprehensive community college is arelatively new idea. It is difficult, costly, andsometimes distracting to provide the wide diver-sity of programs and courses required and keepthem all of high quality. It takes administrativeleadership and faculty commitment to the conceptthat all youth are important-not just the brightones; to the democratic idea that public moniesshall be invested fairly in all youth-not justthe ones with a high I.Q.

Administrators must identify with the occu-pational programs just as squarely as they identi-fy with academic programs. Scholarships, awards,and recognition should follow superior perform-ance in automotive technology just as readily asit does superior performance in political scienceor chemistry.

Bright students can learn even with poor teach-ing, but slow learners must have good teaching.The comprehens've community college makes spe-cial demands on faculty-to plan new course con-tent, to teach in more effective ways, to motivatestudents to be over-achievers, to recognize worthand dignity in all kinds and levels of work, tostrive constantly for quality within diversity.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

Public junior colleges have become identifiedwith the term "open door" in many states. Itshould be emphasized that the term applies to ad-mission to the college rather than to entrance toa specific curriculum or course. The open doorhas many "closed door" curricula. Junior colleges,in order to produce competent graduates fromoccupational programs, will set end-product stand-ards partly by the demands of the general edu-cation core and partly by the job demands of theoccupation for which the curriculum is designed.

The concept of quality within diversity is agoal toward which most community colleges aremoving. An essential factor in the total opera-tion is the development of a quality system ofcounseling and guidance.

Change and ChallengeHigher education for the seventies and beyond

must respond to change. It must be recast in formand altered in substance so that, in two-year col-leges at least, it includes both academic and tech-nical-vocational education. Higher education to-day, in the context of the late 1960's, is a meansof preparing for life's work, and not a means ofgetting out of work for life.

Middle-level youth outnumber superior youthby three-to-one, and it is high time that westop neglect ing their educational needs. Thepublic junior college is the institution which hasaccepted the challenge to provide, on one campus,in the same buildings, under one administration,with one faculty, both academic and occupationaleducation matched to the interests and abilities ofyouth and adults. If such an institution is pros-pering in your community, admire it; if it isstruggling, nurture it; and if it is non-existent,start it.

Occupational Shifts 1965-75Distri-

Per Cent bution % changeOccupation 1965 1975 1965-75

Total 100.0% 100.0% 22.8%

White Collar 44.5 47.9 32.5

Professional, technical 12.3 14.5 45.2

Proprietary, managerial 10.2 10.4 25.3

Clerical 15.5 16.5 30.8

Sales 6.5 6.5 23.0

Blue Collar 36.7 34.0 13.6

Skilled craftsmen 12.8 12.9 23.6

Semi-skilled operatives 18.6 16.9 12.0

Unskilled laborers 4.2 -3.0Service 12.9 14.2 34.5

Farm 5.9 3.9 -18.9Source: U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reprinted in The Emerging

Labor Force, Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

25

Rhode Island Pioneers Co-ordinated Approach

A "megastructure" rising in Warwick, Rhode Island,will reflect the new concept in coordinating academicand vocational-technical education which characterizesthe unique programs offered at Rhode Island JuniorCollege. The five-story building will house, with fewexceptions, the entire two-year college for 3,000 stu-dents. Consistent with the Rhode Island Junior Col-lege philosophy of a well-rounded and complete edu-cational experience for all of its students, the structureis designed to encompass the total facilities of the col-legeacademic, cultural, recreational and social.

Rhode Island Junior College is an institution that isbroad in purpose, creative in design and service-ori-ented. This service orientation is directed toward theapproximately two-thirds of the population who areaverage young people. In another time and in anothereconomy, they might well have had the opportunity foradmissions to our higher institutions for whatever periodof time their talents and their economic sufficiencieswould permit.

The challenge of the college lies both in providingtransfer programs and career-oriented programs. Career-oriented programs in technical education provide stu-dents with a sequential offering of related courses inthe area of mathematics, science, communications andliberal subjects. These courses, together with technicalcourses and field experiences related to a cluster ofoccupations within a technical field, prepare studentsfor entry level positions in a variety of technical occu-pations.Special Administrative Arrangements

The broad offerings available at Rhode Island JuniorCollege have been made possible by special administra-tive arrangements between the Board of Trustees ofState Colleges and the Rhode Island State Board ofEducation. The Board of Trustees of State Colleges isthe agency governing all collegiate level institutionsin the state. The State Board of Education is responsiblefor elementary and secondary education. These sep-arate Boards have entered into contract to plan, con-struct and operate facilities for the junior college anda post-secondary technical institute for the State ofRhode Island. As a result of this cooperative effort,the opportunity exists to provide high quality coin-_

111111111111MEI1

Perkins & Will Partnership, ArchitectsHarkness & Geddes; Robinson, Green & Beretta, Assoc. Architects

26

prehensive education at the lowest possible cost. Avail-able funds and resources are being used to the maxi-mum, while duplication of facilities and teaching staffhave been minimized.

Under this special arrangement, the Board of Trus-tees determines all programs carrying collegiate creditand supplies the funds for the general operational bud-get for all college level programs. The State Board ofEducation determines and makes available funds forall vocational-technical programs. The Board of Trus-tees and the Board of Education have pledged them-selves to a continued joint program of cooperation toinsure the successful realization of their mutual ob-jectives, including the recommendation of such legis-lation as may prove necessary or desirable. The Boardof Education has contributed $3 million of the estimatedconstruction and related development costs for the"megastructure."

Students may pursue two years of college levelcourses culminating in associate degrees. These maybe transfer programs in the areas of liberal arts, busi-ness administration or engineering, leading to the asso-ciate degree in arts or science. They may be career-oriented programs leading to an associate degree intechnology or nursing. Students may undertake career-oriented programs of two-year duration or less whichaward diplomas or certificates, respectively. The di-ploma and certificate programs are offered by thetechnical institute, which is funded by the State Boardof Education.The Curricula

The curricula offered represent an innovative ap-proach in both the academic and vocational areas.Career-oriented programs are presented in a collegeatmosphere in which the maturity, preparation andattitude of the students as well as as the nature of theeducational experiences are directed toward the edu-cational objective: preparing students to qualify foremployment in current and reasonably predictable fu-ture employment opportunities.

A curriculum has been devised which provides flex-ibility and enables a student to pursue those courseswhich support his goals. Diploma students take selectedcollegiate level courses which support the objectivesof their particular programs. Technical students areintegrated into classrooms with students enrolled intransfer and associate degree-granting programs.

A student's goal and potential may change duringhis stay at the junior college. The flexible curriculumprovides the opportunity for him to adjust his goalsand, at the appropriate time, to select a program com-mensurate with his potential.

The innovative Rhode Island Junior College ap-proach is perhaps typified by the architectural designof the "megastructure" itself, which will be completedby 1971. Dominating the college's new 205 acre campus,the structure will contain classrooms, complete labor-atories, faculty offices, counseling spaces, student unionfacilities, a bookstore and a large enclosed commonsarea. It will also include a library resource center,closed circuit television studios, and a 1,200-seat thea-ter-in-the-round that will convert into four 300-seatlecture halls.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

MN"

MARVIN FELDMAN

The Manpower Mission of the Public Schools

Excerpts from a talk given by Marvin Feldman, program officer of theFord Foundation, at the Conference on Curriculum and Teaching in De-pressed Areas, Columbia University, in June 1967. Mr. Feldman arguedthat the schools must be assigned the responsibility of providing careerpreparation, particularly for those students whose needs have not beenmet in academic preparatory programs.

We can no longer tolerate an educational sys-tem, particularly in our urban ghettos, that inlarge part ignores the work world, where occu-pational studies are provided only for the rejectsof the general system, and where vocational stu-dents do not receive relevant academic instruc-tion.

Priorities for ActionThe first task is to clarify the role of each

strand in the out-of-school web of agencies andinstitutions working in manpower:

'The role of the city, the state, and the na-tional government is to promote fiscal policies,employment practices, and living, working, andlearning conditions that foster employment andan environment that enables people to participatein economic life.

Economic opportunity programs should beresponsible for such stimulants as small businessloans and shopping centers, cooperatives, savingsand loan associations, banks, insurance companies,and other financial institutions in which the low-income, particularly nonwhite, population partici-pates as owners and managers as well as cus-tomers.

Labor Department manpower developmentprograms really concentrate on advancing ortransferring (in cooperation with industry) theskills of workers already employed. That is dis-tinct from continuing adult education providedby public education.

The main responsibility for preparing urbanyouth for initial experiences in productive, open-ended employment should, then, lie with publiceducation. Title III of the Elementary and Sec-ondary Education Act points in this directionthrough the merger of the area vocational school

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

with the supplementary centers to be funded bythe Act. Under a new system, not only will thecontent of the curriculum be improved, but thecause of racial integration will be assisted. Ifthe vocational school and supplementary centerswere combined, they could serve as science andtechnical laboratory centers for a number of feed-er elementary and middle schools.

Content is one indispensable element to morerelevant education. Another essential is the con-tinuing assessment and analysis of individualprogress and potential to make certain that astudent is being given the means of pursuing aparticular vocational interest goal without beingforeclosed from other goals that may emerge ashe develops. Additional resources such as comput-ers for rapid data acquisition and analysis wouldbe required. A continuous inventory of the stu-dent's skills and learning ratenot an annual orsemi-annual reviewimplies, of course, a con-tinuous response in content and teaching tochanges in the student. This, in turn, clearly re-quires changes in the prevailing mode and or-ganization of teaching.

If they were given the manpower developmentmission, the public schools could not rely tooheavily on a single techniquesuch as the class-room lecturebut would have to be able to usea combination of media and processes. This wouldrequire teaching teams with multidiscipline back-grounds; technical personnel from the vocationalsystem; teaching machines and sequenced ma-terial; video tapes and technical laboratories; com-munity motivation programs; on-the-job trainingstations and continuous daily guidance and coun-seling services. A truly comprehensive schoolwould be one that orchestrates the best learningprocesses of an academic high school and a voca-

27

tional high school for the entire student bodybased on individual programming.

Separation of the manpower mission from pub-lic education has also denied vocational educationthe kind of support from universities and otherresource centers that other aspects of public edu-cation have begun to enjoy in the last few years.

Following are some other paths that the ac-quisition of a manpower mission and resourceswould open to public education:

A wide variety of exploratory occupationaleducation programs could be introduced in thejunior high schools. Such programs might wellreplace more limited current industrial arts andhome-economics subjects which are offered tomost children in junior high school.

Within existing, separate, area vocationalschools we could introduce a core of skills whichare related to a cluster of occupations rather thanto one specialized occupation (for example, thegraphic artsembracing printing, drafting, pho-tography, and other subjectsinstead of printingper se) .

U. S. Employment Service placement officerscould be placed in existing comprehensive highschools, vocational schools, technical institutes,and community colleges, so that the public schoolstake on the serious role of job placement ratherthan job referral. The legislative restriction re-quiring a youngster to be sixteen years old be-fore he is eligible to use the guidance capabilityof the Employment Service needs to be changed.Tying U.S.E.S. to public education also wouldprovide vocational counseling services to manyschools that now lack them altogether.

Counseling that is informed by first-handknowledge of education and the work world would

Differentials in Unemployment Rates in 1966National Average 3.8%

Men in professional and technical fields 1.0

Married men 1.9

All whites 3.3

All nonwhites 7.3

Men in unskilled occupations 7.3

18 and 19 year old boys 10.2

18 and 19 year old girls 12.6

16 and 17 year old boys 13.7

16 and 17 year old girls 16.6

Nonwhite 18 and 19 year old boys 20.5

Nonwhite 16 and 17 year old boys 22.5

Nonwhite 18 and 19 year old boys 29.2

Nonwhite 16 and 17 year old girls 34.8

Source: Handbook of Labor Statistics. 1967, reprinted in TheEmerging Labor Force, Chamber of Commerce of the U. S.

28

also improve the effectiveness of cooperative pro-grams that combine work experience with sec-ondary school and junior college programs.

Achieving the GoalThe first logical step toward a relevant system

in which the manpower mission is intrinsic topublic education at all levels would be to linklarge federal vocational-education resources andurban education by tying programs supported bythe 1963 Vocational Educational Act with the Ele-mentary and Secondary Education legislation.

The federal government is currently investinggreat sums of money for improved education, man-power, and training programs. There are nowover 150 different federal aid programs financedby over 300 separate appropriations and adminis-tered by twenty-one federal departments andagencies. But the ties to both education and em-ployment are fragile; adult community action andliteracy programs are given in a vacuum, andcommunity manpower programs are remedial,compensatory at best, and uncertainly linked toemployment.

Under an arrangement in which all pre-em-ployment and pre-college programs would be theresponsibility of public education, non-school pro-grams to promote continued vocational growthand advancement would depend on two ap-proaches:

One, cooperative education programs wouldprovide a vehicle for advancement after employ-ment.

Two, registered apprenticeship programs fortrade union opportunities would become the totalresponsibility of the Department of Labor ratherthan of public education. This means official rec-ognition that training for specific trades is a jointindustry-labor responsibility based on apprentice-ships. School programs now do not guaranteedeprived minority youngsters entry into unionapprenticeship programs.

Instead of serving industry with training fortrades that is based on the availability of teachers,the schools would serve the student by improvingthe educational process. Secondary-school grad-uates unable to enter the trade unions would thenbe able and well prepared for post-secondary oc-cupation education for technologies and middlemanagement opportunities.

Despite their failures, the schools have scoredenormous gains in the pastin meeting the needsof a frontier society, of an immigrant society, andof a space-age society. They can do it again, ifthe assignment is not withheld from them. Letus therefore give public education the mandatethe challengeof preparing our youth to seize anduse the opportunities that are the end towardwhich other struggles are but means.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

PHILIP E. LERMAN

Is Vocational Education for the Poor?

Mr. Lerman is Vice Chairman of the Wisconsin State Board of Vocational,Technical and Adult Education and is treasurer of the Lerman TireCompany in Milwaukee.

Vocational schools, one of the traditional meth-ods by which immigrants worked their way outof the ghetto, have failed to attract and hold non-white youth in today's troubled inner cities. Itcould be said that present-day vocational-technicalschools are doing a poorer job for these youththan are the private and public universities. Ibelieve that a study of enrollments would showthat fewer Negro youth who successfully completehigh school seek out post-secondary vocationalschools for career choice than any other form ofhigher education.

Technical schools whose graduates have sucheasy access to the employment market (in Wis-consin there are often from five to nine job offersfor every associate degree graduate) have donelittle to attract core area youth or have littlesuccess in retaining those they do recruit. Someof the blame can be laid to the secondary schoolsystem, from which inner city graduates are notadequately prepared to assume the work levelnecessary for matriculation in spite of the lowerentrance requirements. Many high school guid-ance counselors do not encourage black youth toenroll in technical schools, nor do they seemwilling to send "brighter kids" to the vocationalschools. Of equal concern is the lack of visiblesuccess for core area students in identifying withsuccessful models in the world of work. Anotherfactor is the failure of the schools themselves toprovide staff who understand and are sympatheticto the problems of the present day ghetto resident.Vocational Education Defined

According to the State Board of Vocational,Technical, and Adult Education, which supervisesthe Wisconsin system in cooperation with eitherarea-wide or municipal district boards, vocationaleducation takes place at the post-high school andadult levels. The terms vocational and technicaleducation generally refer to education leading

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

directly to employment as differentiated fromgeneral education which has no specific employ-ment objectives.

Vocational schools were established in Wiscon-sin more than 50 years ago. First called "indus-trial" and later "continuation" schools, in 1911they began to provide full and part-time job train-ing and general education opportunities for thethousands of employed young people who haddropped out of school, for trade apprentices whowere finding it increasingly difficult to receiveon-the-job training, for young adults who lackedthe necessary skill to find and keep long-termemployment, and for employed adults who, evenin those days, found it necessary to learn newskills to meet changing job requirements.

Vocational schools today enroll people fromessentially these same groups. More and more,our vocational schools, in order to meet the pres-sure from below, have expanded their full-timeprograms into the new technologies and haveplaced increased emphasis on the one and two-year full-time post-high school education pro-grams. This emphasis on post-high school educa-tion is a consequence of the tremendous changein scientific and technological advances, as wellas the shift from a rural to an urban society.

More recently, courses patterned after voca-tional programs have been offered at the second-ary level. In some cases they lead to positions inthe labor force. In Wisconsin, most new highschools built since World War II have includedshops and laboratories for the teaching of indus-trial arts, which are actually pre-vocationalcourses. With the exception of Milwaukee, novocational school in the state has courses for theyouth of compulsory school age. The secondaryschool systems have recognized that they have themajor responsibility for the education of compul-sory age youth and, with the aid of federal and

29

state funds, are developing programs for the non-college bound student at the high school level.

Inadequate Preparation in the Ghettofor Vocational Schools

Unfortunately, the level of education in theghetto is well below the norm of the community,and no core area high school can approach thelevel of what is referred to as a "comprehensive"high school. The tragedy of poor schooling isfurther compounded by a rigid traditional curricu-lum in which there is little attempt at presentingpre-vocational subjects so that students will beencouraged to seek technical education beyondthe high school. In communities where vocationalhigh schools do exist, too often the curriculum andequipment are outdated and students preparedonly for obsolescent job opportunities. It must bereiterated that there has been little or nothingdone to attract ghetto students to vocationalschoolsand certainly no encouragement by voca-tional schools in seeking core area students.

In Wisconsin, with the exception of ManpowerDevelopment Training Act (MDTA), On the JobTraining (OJT), and related government fundedprograms, there is a very small number of Ne-groes, Mexicans and Puerto, Ricans enrolled inregular classes in vocational schools. This is gen-erally true throughout the country. It is tragicthat one of the basic institutions that served to"Americanize" our parents and grandparents hasfailed to assist in the urbanization process of ourown indigenous in-migrant group and further hasfailed in opening the "golden door" into the worldof work opportunity.

An examination of the various levels of serv-ices offered by the vocational-technical schoolsindicates the paucity of service rendered to thecore area resident. What is true for post-highschool education opportunities is also true, thoughto a lesser extent, of the other levels of services.Core area residents can be found in MDTA classesand to some extent in Adult Basic Educationclasses. In the latter instance, when these classesare tied to a specific "earn while you learn"project funded by a local welfare department, astate employment service, or a local industry, thestudent will respond and sometimes be encouragedupon completion of a specific program to continuehis education for his own benefit. Too often,though, students are not encouraged by the admin-istration or by an insensitive teacher to seekfurther educational opportunities. Sometimes thegigantic nature of the physical plant itself makesthe student, usually past school age, uncomfort-able. He is lost in the jungle of corridors, formsand class records. Vocational services at this levelcan be successful, providing the staff is sensitiveto the needs of the students not only in providing

30

them with the tools of a specific trade or job butalso with a sense of purpose and dignity.

One wonders why an Adult Basic Educationclass can be a dud at the Big House (the vocationalschool) and be such a success in a store-frontchurch or in a made-over theatre run by Oppor-tunities Industrialization Center (OIC) or an ElCentro Hispano. Why can a program succeed onplant premises and not attract half the peoplewhen given in a school? There must be an answerin the manner in which ghetto residents look atschools and also at the sincerity of the process.

Proposals for ImprovementThe vocational-technical system can and must

be one of the principle vehicles for emancipationfrom the ghetto. Schools should establish servicecenters in core areas and staff them with indi-viduals who are sensitive to the peculiar needsand problems of the residents. If located in aSpanish-speaking area, a Spanish-speaking staffmember should be available. Centers should beavailable to the residents at their convenience.The centers could also serve as classrooms forBasic Adult Education, recruiting stations forMDTA and related programs and for regular pro-grams offered at the main school. The center couldoffer demonstration projects from time to time,showing the programs available at the main schooland coupled with job interview sessions, to dem-onstrate the sincerity with which the institutionand the community approach the problems of thecore area.

The center could also serve as a means bywhich the core area resident could speak to theinstitution. Industry, labor and the public areusually represented on vocational school policy-making boards, but the poor, and particularly thecore residents, have no opportunity to be heard.Here they could speak directly to the representa-tive of the institution and could help in makingthe kind of changes which would make the voca-tional-technical school more meaningful in rela-tion to their needs.

Vocational-technical school staff should engagein active recruiting of the core area high schoolstudent, encouraging him to attend the vocationalschools. Teams of recruiters should include repre-sentatives of industry and commerce, who couldpoint out the benefits of this type of education"from the horse's mouth." Wherever possible theyshould be members of the core area. Young peopleas well as their elders need success images. Amore careful selective process should be utilizedin employing personnel who come in contact withcore area residents. Teachers and administrativepersonnel working in core area centers should becarefully screened and, if necessary, should begiven special training so that they can better

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

understand the problems and attitudes of theghetto client.

Wherever possible, the vocational schoolsshould work closely with all the private and publicagencies in training and upgrading programs. In-digenous self-help education and training groups,like OIC, El Centro (in Milwaukee), and theUrban League should be encouraged to expandtheir programs. In the process, their help couldbe sought to identify potential full-time studentswho would benefit from further education. Schoolsin local areas should be encouraged to work withthe employment service or welfare department todevelop short-term programs to prepare peoplefor employment. Local industry should be encour-aged to develop its own basic education programs.Students graduating from these in-plant programsshould be encouraged to continue their educationat the vocational school. Management should sub-sidize their further education. Vocational schoolsshould be challenged to provide extension serviceto large industries for their own training pro-grams.

State and Federal EffortsOn the state and federal level, programs should

be developed to promote vocational education. Allpublic agencies involved in core area endeavorsshould be made aware of the many services avail-able from the vocational-technical school. Statefunds disbursed by state vocational or communitycollege boards should be channeled into the corearea. Apprenticeship programs should be madeavailable to ghetto residents on a non-segregatedbasis. Where it can be proven that existing pro-grams practice segregation, immediate stepsshould be taken to cut off all state and federalaid until reforms are made. If necessary, the state,through whatever mechanism it possesses, mustcreate a structure in apprenticeship training thatdiscourages segregation.

State legislation should be passed offering thesame type of financial aid to vocational schoolenrollees as is now available to college students,with the proviso that a more liberal stipendshould be offered to ghetto residents to morerealistically meet their needs. Stipends should in-clude some type of family allowance, so that

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

potential students could afford the education theyneed while at the same time discharging theirfamily obligations. The investment would be re-turned to the state by the increased purchasingpower as well as taxpaying ability of the moreskilled and marketable individuals.

On the federal level, the tax power should beused to encourage industry to participate morefully in the education process. Wherever possible,industry should run its own programs consistentwith its own needs. Where plants or businessesare too small to go it alone, they might be en-couraged to initiate joint projects which could besubsidized by the federal government. The sub-sidies could take the form of tax credits, directgrants-in-aid to individual students, or a write-off for training costs, providing there could becontrol for efficiency and results.

Funds allocated to the states under the Voca-tional Education Act of 1963 should be earmarkedso that those states developing programs promot-ing vocational education opportunities for theirghetto areas would be allocated an additional sumof money based on the percentage of peopleserved. Adult Basic Education funds should bedisbursed in the same manner.

Jobs are the key to any successful vocational-technical education program. Without the privatesector's cooperation and commitment, little canbe accomplished. Industry should not only beassisted in establishing basic education programswithin their plants; they should also be encour-aged to undertake more on-the-job training. Tradeassociations, manufacturers associations, cham-bers of commerce and labor organ:zations mustbe committed to promoting education within theghetto and to providing the incentive throughwhich ghetto residents can see the reward avail-able as the process proceeds.

Unless the schools and their governing bodiesare willing to take steps to make schools moreeffective instruments for transforming the ghetto,they are not fulfilling the purposes for which theywere originally created. All segments of the com-munity, the federal government, the state, thelocal governments and the private sector mustshare in this change or bear the burden of thefailures.

31

Pennsylvania Scheme Offers New Hope for Slum Dwellers

James J. Kilpatrick

It is too f. miy to do much crowing about Pennsyl-vania's "Neighborhood Assistance Act," for the law hasbeen in effect for less than five months, but two goodreasons suggest that it deserves an encouraging word.

First, this modest piece of legislation seeks to bringthe skills of business directly to the problems of theslums. Second, it provides one more example of thecontinued vitality of the states in our federal scheme ofgovernment.

The Pennsylvania law is largely the brainchild of afreshman Republican legislator, Daniel Beren of Abing-ton. He learned last year of the job being done in theSpring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia by Smith,Kline & French, the drug manufacturers. He took alook at their program, and thought he saw not the an-swer, but one answer, to the complex problems ofneighborhood improvement and Negro advancement.

The SKF people have their main plant in a part ofPhiladelphia that is typical of countless such districtsacross the nation. It was once a fine neighborhood oflarge homes, meant for large families. Then familiesgrew smaller and the march to the suburbs began. Aslum was on its way.

Two years ago Smith, Kline & French quietlylaunched a three-part program to serve the people ofSpring Garden. One part was a job-training program,similar tr., uLher such programs elsewhere. Of greaterinterest is an "Information Services Center," which thecompany set up in the basement of an unused church.The third part goes to the rehabilitation of housing.

Today the Center has a full-time staff of four per-sons whose job is to cut through red tape and to helpthe neighborhood residents find the help available tothem. Many of the Spanish-speaking members of thecommunity are wholly unable to cope with forms, rulesand regulations. Others are afraid of the bureaucraticpresence and generally apprehensive of anything thatsmacks of officialdom. By keeping the program low-keyed and unpretentious, the Center has managed towin a solid place in the community. Some 300 personsa month are coming in for help.

The company's role in housing rehabilitation isequally as inconspicious. The old houses of the neigh-borhood were basically too sound to be destroyed. Toolarge for single families, they appeared to offer fineopportunities for conversion into decent flats and apart-(C) 1968, Washington Star Syndicate

32

ments. So SKF helped to find a developer who wouldcontract with the Philadelphia Public Housing Author-ity for house-by-house modernization. The companypledged to underwrite a part of the interest costs. Now60 to 70 houses have been done over, to provide 200renovated housing units. The neighborhood is comingback.

Beren was so impressed by the SKF achievementthat he won approval in November of his NeighborhoodAssistance Act. The law is short and simple. It pro-vides a credit against corporation income tax of up to50 per cent of the first $150,000 invested by a businessfirm in state-approved programs of benefit to personsliving in impoverished areas. So many business firmshave indicated an interest in participation at a higherlevel that Beren already has introduced an amendmentto raise the maximum credit to $175,000.

These things can't be hurried. Big business, like biggovernment, sometimes moves with less than lightningspeed. But the Pennsylvania law appears to offer theincentive, the opportunity, and the room to turn aroundin that business leaders have been urging. Beren's actpermits wide latitude in neighborhood programs. It in-vites the very skills that business is supposed to possess

imagination, enterprise, know-how, cost-cutting; andit says to business: Get going.

Perhaps other states have preceded Pennsylvania inthe tax-credit approach to neighborhood improvement.If so, more power to them. For business leaders, theplan offers a fresh challenge; for slum dwellers, itoffers fresh hope.

OccupationTotal

White collarSkilled

craftsmenSemi-skilled

operativesUnskilled

laborersServiceNever worked

Source: The Emergingthe U. S.

Job Vacancies inPhila. Metro Area

100%38

Slum Unemployed100%15

22 3

21 11

6 2613 23

22

Labor Force, Chamber of Commerce of

COMPACT, Jim 1968

1OHN A. VOLPE

The Urban Education Context

Governor Volpe is serving his third term as Governor of Massachusetts.He is also Chairman of the National Governors' Conference and Presidentof the Council of State Governments. During his term of office GovernorVo/pe has sponsored and secured enactment of a limited sales tax programto finance elementary and secondary education as well as legislation tocurb de facto segregation in public schools. The Governor's statement indi-cates that the problems of vocational-technical education must be viewedwithin the context of the entire urban school crisis.

The exodus of the middle class to the suburbs,the migration of millions of rural poor from thecountry, and the growth of urban ghettos havetransformed our major cities. The greatest prob-lem with which American education is confrontedtoday is the vast discrepancy between the educa-tional opportunity available to the suburban childand that which is available to his central-citycounterpart. The child in the urban school systemappears to be trapped in a cycle of despair, whereone generation of disadvantaged gives rise toanother, while the well-to-do, who have fled fromthe city, maintain their high standards in a worldapart.

How can a governor respond to this problem?What is the role of the state in educational prob-lems, when school districts jealously guard theprinciple of local control? An account of our at-tempts to improve urban education in Massachu-setts, one of the most urban of states, should beinstructive, for we have made great strides in thischallenging area.

Legislative Revitalization of State School SystemAs the decade of the 1960's began, Massachu-

setts faced an increasingly serious need to bringcoordination to our state college system, to in-crease state aid to our local schools, and to mod-ernize and strengthen greatly our State Depart-ment of Education. Our response was a $250,000comprehensive study of public education in thecommonwealth, from the kindergarten to the post-graduate level. This project, begun in 1962 andwhich came to be known as the Willis-HarringtonStudy, was the most exhaustive of its kind everundertaken in Massachusetts.

As a asult of this study, legislation was en-acted in 1965, making sweeping changes in oureducation system. The Department of Education

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

was reorganized into five new divisions and, mostimportant, was given greatly increased powersover the local schcol systems. The revitalizationof our department proved to be the critical stepwhich laid the foundation for a continuing effortto end the disparity in the quality of educationbetween our urban and suburban schools.

In our movement toward the enforcement ofstate standards, we have regularized the lengthof the school year and school day throughout thecommonwealth; we are the first state in the nationto require a phasing-in of kindergartens (by 1973).We have begun to establish lower pupil-teacherratios in public schools. Additional standards willfollow in such areas as school buildings, libraries,guidance services, psychological counselling, phys-ical education facilities, and testing. Soon no citywill have the option of operating inferior schools.Meanwhile, we are gradually strengthening thestaff of our Department of Education so that itwill be sufficient in number and quality to assistcommunities which do not have adequate re-sources.

A key feature of this revitalization has beenthe establishment of a Bureau of CurriculumInnovation for the purpose of revising methodsand subjects of instruction in order to keep abreastof the fast-moving developments in our complexmodern society.

Equally significant in showing our awarenessof the need to innovate is legislation enacted lastyear providing for the establishment of up to threeexperimental state schools or school systems,under the aegis of a board appointed by theCommissioner of Education. One of these schoolswill probably be situated in the Boston metropoli-tan area. Present plans call for the experimentalBoston concept to have several sites, in both inner-

33

city and suburban locations. The children, drawnfrom the entire metropolitan area, would movethrough the various locations of the school learn-ing about the variety af communities in whichthey are situated. This multi-sited school systemwill have its policies determined by the parentsof the children involved. Thus, the first state ex-perimental school will experiment with curriculaand community involvement of all sorts. In addi-tion, it is certain to be an unusually stimulatingteacher-training institution.

Where Are the Funds?All of these improvements, like the enforce-

ment of standards, cost more money, which we canonly obtain by resorting to new sources of revenue.The advancement of public education at the locallevel in Massachusetts was demonstrably hinderedby an overwhelming dependence on local propertytaxation as the source of funds for education. Yetlocal property taxes had reached the breakingpoint in many communities. In 1966, a limitedsales tax to provide funds for local elementaryand secondary education was enacted. With thattax program, we obtained a revised state aidformula that abandoned the old foundation pro-gram of state aid and substituted an equalizing,sliding-scale formula based on need.

The definition of "need" is critical, becauseour new formula for the distribution of state edu-cational aid does not simply take into considera-tion the number of children which a communitymust educate but also the financial ability of thatcommunity to educate those children, based onits own tax resources. The key factor in determin-ing the percentage of local educational expensesfor which the state will provide reimbursementis the taxable property valuation per school childin the particular community. Those communitieswhich have the lowest taxable valuation per schoolchild (i.e., which are least able to meet the burdenof local educational costs) receive the highestpercentage of reimbursement from the state. Thosecommunities which have the highest taxable valu-ation per school child, and are consequently bestable to meet local educational expenses, receivethe lowest percentage of reimbursement.

We believe that this distribution formula is thecornerstone of our effort to equalize educationalopportunity throughout our state and particularlybetween urban and suburban schools. For the firsttime, we can truly say that we are directing ourgreatest resources to those areas which have thegreatest problems. The state is literally takingmoney from the affluent and channeling it intothe education of the disadvantaged.

The Racial AspectNo discussion of the disparity in educational

opportunity between urban and suburban school

34

systems would be complete without an in-depthlook at the problem of de facto segregation. In-deed, in many cities the latter term and the urban-suburban disparity are synonymous. In 1965, theMassachusetts Legislature enacted the first statelaw to curtail de facto segregation in the publicschools. This statute defined a racially imbalancedpublic school as one attended by 50 per cent ormore non-whites. Local school committees whichfailed to alleviate racial imbalance could lose stateeducational assistance funds. Conversely, the lawauthorized additional funds for those school com-mittees taking positive steps to alleviate imbal-ance.

In 1964, there were 55 racially imbalancedschools in the commonwealth-45 of them in thecity of Boston alone, 8 in the city of Springfield.Massachusetts has recognized that a solution tothe problem of racial imbalance cannot be foundwithin the central city alone. Suburban communi-ties in metropolitan Boston are participating vol-untarily in a program known as METCO, underwhich non-white children are bused from imbal-anced central-city schools to the suburbs. Stateappropriations support this program.

Alliance for Reform: Post-SecondaryVocational Opportunity

This outpouring of support for change augurswell for the improvement of urban education inthe commonwealth. Our great private universitiesand colleges, groups of citizens and leaders of theunder-privileged have begun to form alliances forreform. Community schools like those beingplanned in Boston and Springfield, self-help edu-cation programs, and grassroots pressure groupsare the products of new "urban coalitions." Theyspell great hope for major educational reform inour urban areas. From such new coalitions willflow the ideas and initiative that will radicallychange the education of the disadvantaged urbancitizen.

Finally, we have recognized that a comprehen-sive approach to the problems of urban educationinvolves more than just higher standards, innova-tion, and increased financial support for elemen-tary and secondary education. Consequently, wehave also begun a reorientation of our publichigher education system. In this reorientation,two elements stand out: the opening of a Bostoncampus of our state university and the dramaticgrowth of our state-supported community collegesystem.

The University of Massachusetts opened abranch in temporary quarters in the heart of theCommonwealth's largest urban area, Boston, in1965. Next fall it will enroll 3,400 students. Untilthe University opened the doors of the Bostonbranch, our largest metropolitan area, encompass-

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

ing over 2.5 million people, was not served by anypublic university-level institution. As soon as asuitable permanent site can be selected and devel-oped, the Boston branch will enroll many morethousands of students.

The University of Massachusetts at Boston willserve an urban population, offering courses andprograms which are relevant to urban problems.In the words of Chancellor John W. Ryan at thefirst faculty and student convocation:

"In creating a university in the great westerntradition we must make it public and urban inall that these words imply . . . in making it pub-lic, we will bring the Morrill Land-Grant Actup to date. A public university must offer educa-tion to students who cannot for economic andsocial reasons ordinarily go beyond high school. . .

"Nor is this all. Despite the avalanche of num-bers expected in the coming years, this new uni-versity will not be satisfied with accepting onlythose students who apply on their own initiative.We will seek out, and help support, those youngpeople whose race, or recent immigration, or de-pressed economic status, denies them higher edu-cation and even the expectation of it. We willseek to improve education for all, from pre-school-ers to adults."

A university-level education, however, is obvi-ously not the answer for a substantial percentageof our urban population. It is here that our devel-oping community college system plays such a vitalrole, with its more vocationally-oriented curricu-lum. Starting from nothing in 1960, we now havetwelve operating community colleges, all entirelystate-supported, with a total enrollment of over11,000. Six more such facilities are planned. Those

in existence are situated not only in our largerurban centers, such as Boston, Worcester, andSpringfield, but also in our smaller industrialcities, such as Fall River, Brockton, Haverhill, andPittsfield, communities which lacked public highereducational institutions and whose economies re-flected their absence. The overall growth in enroll-ments at public institutions of higher educationin Massachusetts has been dramatic. By the forth-coming autumn, the total enrollment in all suchpublic institutions will have doubledfrom littlemore than 30,000 to approximately 60,000in afour-year period. The rapid development of oururban-oriented community college system hasbeen the chief contributing factor in this impres-sive increase. Despite the low tuition at all ourstate higher educational institutions, we have con-tinued to propose more funds for scholarships forthose in need of financial assistance, in accordwith our belief that no qualified student shouldbe denied the opportunity for a higher educationbecause of lack of funds.

There are no panaceas for the problems ofurban education. Any attack on these problemsmust be comprehensive, unified, and integrated,involving changes in governmental structure, arealistic approach to the problem of financingeducation, thorough planning, legislative actionwhere necessary, concern with education at alllevels, and a willingness to innovate and to admitthat existing ways of doing things are often in-adequate in meeting contemporary needs.

But underlying all these there must be a com-mitment to understand and to resolve the problem.Where this commitment existsdeep-rooted, de-termined, and unshakeableall the rest will fol-low.

The Art of Fishing in AlaskaPrograms designed to provide instruction in the art of fishing are not likely to be priority items in many

school budgets, but the way the fishery program is being conducted by Hoonah, Alaska, High School, it mayhave application for other schools and other programs.

Hoonah High School is conducting a team teaching effort in its fisheries program in which 12 junior and sen-ior high school boys are enrolled. Members of the "team" include the Coast Guard Auxiliary, which has con-ducted classes in navigation and shrimp fishing, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, offering courses inscientific commercial fishing. Other experts have discus sed preservation of fish, types of commercial fishing gear,and species identification. Only one permanent member of the high school faculty is assigned to the program. Heis David Safford, coordinator and head of the team.

The program will be commended to President Johnson by the U. S. Office of Education as an exemplary pro-gram funded under the Vocational Education Act of 1963.

COMPACT, JuNE 1968 35

ECS COMMISSIONERS SPEAK OUT:

State Priorities for Voc-Tech Education

GOVERNOR ROBERT E. McN AIR of South Carolinastresses the importance of vocational-technical train-ing and discusses the efforts which South Carolina isundertaking in this field.

For too long leaders at all levels of govern-ment have been passing the problem of theghetto off as a necessary and incurable by-productof our free enterprise system. But the nationalconscience can no longer condone the blight ofpoverty or fail to respond to the call for unifiedand immediate steps to erase this scar.

In South Carolina, dedicated efforts to stemthe tide of the rural migration to the cities, inno-vative and successful programs of occupationaltraining, and renewed emphasis on placing indus-try in rural areas are showing rich returns.

We are now devoting a large share of ourefforts to the training of our under-preparedadults and those young people who plan to workafter high school instead of going on to college.Believing that occupational training holds the keyto making productive citizens of people with lowor no skills, we are engaged in a broad programof technical education at the post-high schoollevel that is the envy of many states and our voca-tional training program at' the high school levelholds bright promise.

South Carolina's Technical Education programwas created by following these general principles:

1. Technical education should supplement notreplace emphasis in basic education.

2. The program should be statewide.3. It should be highly responsive to change

and flexible enough to meet' a wide rangeof needs.

At the elementary and secondary school levelsin South Carolina more than 400,000 students plusthe drop-outs make up the 80 per cent of theyoung people who will not go on to college. These

36

young people represent either the hope or theburden of the future, depending upon the state'sresponse to their occupational training require-ments.

Already, eight area vocational schools are inoperation in South Carolina. A broad construc-tion program has been launched with a goal of51 schools to be built during the next five years.

The blending of the technical and vocationalprograms, with additional efforts at the basiceducation level, is serving to pull our state intothe mainstream of America. Though we havefar to go, we are on the way. Knowing that ourpeople are the chief beneficiaries of these efforts,we are constantly evaluating and streamliningthe various programs. Our goal is to achievedignity and prosperity for all our citizens.

Our objective in South Carolina is employ-ment for all, and as we move toward it we canat the same time bring about great social changeand stabilize our course for the future. By pro-viding a balanced program of vocational andtechnical education to all adults and young peoplewho want it, we are making a significant con-tribution to the solution of one of our nation'sgreatest problems.

KING TELLE, Indiana State Representative, arguesthat the state legislature should establish a commissionfor occupational education within the office of the Su-perintendent of Public Instruction in order to insurethe development of an integrated and effective voca-tional program.

Indiana is at the crossroads of decision withregard to the nature of technical educational op-portunities which future generations of Indianayouth will receive.

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

Indiana educators have long supported thebelief that vocational education should be viewedas a total program which is planned, programmed,and coordinated on a continuum from the ele-mentary school years.

The General Assembly must also constantlyevaluate what we are doing to see that our em-phasis, support and funds are being used wiselyand in the best interest of all our citizens, andthat vocational education is available to all per-sons regardless of race, sex, wealth, or place ofresidence.

Therefore, the legislators must give top pri-ority to creating a commission for vocational-tech-nical-occupational education responsibilities. Allvocational-technical education policies, procedures,and funding should be within one office, that ofthe Superintendent of Public Instruction, andadministered through local boards of education.

REVEREND ROBERT WAN STREET, Superintendentof Schools in the Diocese of Wheeling, West Virginia,outlines four priorities for legislative action, includinga relaxation of certification and academic restrictions.

Following are four statements, in the order ofpriority, which I believe state legislatures shouldestablish in promoting vocational-technical edu-cation:

A state should:1. Realize its legal (and moral) obligation to

provide educational opportunities beyondthe high school for the non-college boundfuture citizen of the state;

2. Realize that no state's single educationalunit should or even could embark on sucha program, if the program is to be strong,beneficial, and productive;

3. Realize that where practical by reason ofgeography, and where feasible by reasonof common sociological and/or economicinterest and problems, the "political" bar-

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

rier of county or district lines should bebypassed completely; in short, the thinkingshould be along area or regional lines;

4. Realize that the problem is practical; theprogram is practical; and the means arepractical; and therefore a practical approachby state certification agencies to secure prac-tical instructors by lessening and/or re-lax ing academic restriction appears in or-der.

DR. KENNETH C. MADDEN, Delaware State Super-intendent of Public Instruction, stresses the need forpermissive legislation and broad financial support toprovide comprehensive, statewide vocational oppor-tunities.

Opportunities in vocational-technical educa-tion are an integral and vital part of a state'soverall educational program and must be ade-quately provided for through state legislation.

A state legislature in order to promote voca-tional-technical education should establish prior-ities of action, including permissive legislative andfinancial support that will provide broad oppor-tunities for all persons to develop an understand-ing of occupations and the world of work as abasis for choice and preparation for entry intoemployment.

Consideration must also be given to unem-ployed and underemployed out-of-school persons.Educational and training opportunities must beavailable for them to prepare for entry into em-ployment, to up-grade themselves for advance-ment in employment and/or retrain for new orchanging employment.

Permissive legislation may be required to guar-antee that all persons, including those with spe-cial needs, regardless of grade or age have anopportunity to participate in vocational-technicaleducational programs adapted to meet their spe-cific needs, interest's, aptitudes, personal char-acteristics and abilities.

37

CHARLES R. DeCARLO

Changing Industrial Needs and Job Training

Dr. De Carlo is Director of Automation Research for the InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation. He has published numerous articles onthe application of information systems, management practices and thesocial and cultural aspects of science and technology. With Dr. OrmsbeeRobinson, he has co-authored a book, "Education in Business and Industry."

In our society, it is not unreasonable to have acontinuing conflict bet,-cen that process of train-ing which prepares young people for work andthe process of education preparing them to becomeautonomous human beings. These two are met inthe field of vocational education. Implicit in thenotion of vocational education are several keyassumptions concerning the world of work. Theseare:

There exists a set of trades or crafts for whicha young person, through a combination ofpractical work and supporting theoreticalsubjects, can be prepared.Such trades and crafts tend to be stable asoccupations over long periods of time. Thisimplies that techniques and machinery asso-ciated with the jobs change with relativeslowness.

It is to the student's advantage to make anearly career decision in terms of his ultimateoccupational choice. In this way, through ap-propriate training, on the completion of highschool he will be prepared to contribute pro-ductively to the work process.

Differences in social and economic back-grounds, intelligence, and aspirations force asplit in public education between the collegebound and the work bound. This makes in-ferior or second-class those programs associ-ated with vocational or occupational training.

Because of the applied nature of the materialinvolved in vocational education classes,teachers must have practical experience,even at the expense of other educationalqualifications.

These assumptions, which have led to the de-velopment of a separate vocational education pro-gram throughout the country, are not only invalid.

38

They represent harmful and dangerous circum-stances in the preparation of youngsters for par-ticipation in the adult world.

The Realities of Today's Work WorldThe nature of work, in the world of today and

of the future, is changing.First, the work world, including the processes

of production, distribution, finance, and control,is becoming increasingly dominated by cognitivefunctions rather than muscular skills. Census sta-tistics show the lower skill level job declining asthe white-collar jobs increase. The amount ofpaper work associated with even the smallest ofenterprises today dictates the need for a minimumcommand of communication and reasoning skill onthe part of the lowest employee.

The New World is a world of men and ma-chines constituting a new level of energy andproductivity. We in America not only have ahigher standard of living than the backwardnations of the world but, importantly, men herework in environments characterized by man-machine relationships. This is true not only inthe large mills and the electronic computingcenters but also in the auto mechanic's shop, ware-house, and smaller business enterprise, becausejobs which even today require a fair amount ofmanual work are embedded in an environment ofmachines, prime movers, control devices, etc.There is need for some general understanding ofelementary mechanical devices and the principlesof energy conservation and transformation. ArthurKoestler speaks of the "urban barbarians"thosepeople who make use of the fruits of technologyand are completely apathetic to the nature andmagic of its processes.

As work becomes increasingly cognitive andrelated to machines, there is built up a demand

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

for large, efficiently designed systems. By systemsdesign I am referring not only to physical systems,but also to design and control of the large humanorganizations which are a necessary adjunct inthe development and operation of the technologi-cal society. Individuals employed in the workworld must be engaged in new levels of man-to-man relationships and in the integration of menand machines into "team activities."

If because of the application of technology towork, man is increasingly alienated from thetotality of the work process, it becomes vital thathe find his meaningful relationship to the workprocess through participation with others as ele-ments in the larger systems. This requires thathe communicate effectively with co-workers andmanagers on matters ranging from details of thephysical operations to such complicated issues asbenefits, payroll questions, employment policies,etc. The resultant sense of dependence upon thelarger organization for both security and identityhas far-reaching effects upon the worker's role asa citizen.

Another consideration in the new relationshipbetween pre-employment training and the workexperience is the role the job plays in establishingthe individual within the community. In today'sworld the job environment is becoming increas-ingly the defining element of stability and identityin the individual's life. Certainly, since the end ofthe Second World War, the geographical mobilityof our population has radically altered the stabil-izing value of family ties and the communityroots. Every year one American in five changeshis residential address, and one person in fournow lives in a state other than the one in whichhe was born. These facts imply the importanceof the job as an enduring mechanism for helpingestablish individual identity. In view of the im-portance of the job-career decision to individualpsychological well-being, it is important that earlyguidance and career counselling be strengthened.

Another major component of the work experi-ence is the individual's requirement to deal withthe organization %within which he works. Hisunderstanding and responsible participation in theprocesses and goals of the employer organization,of the union or trade association, of professionaland technical groups make demands upon the in-dividual which tend to divide his loyalties. Theproblem of living with the many divided loyalties,including those to church, family and community,which the individual must handle in the modernworld is one of our most crucial problems.

An important characteristic of the work en-vironment is free or leisure time and the possibil-ity of increasing such time through a shorterwork week. Today, the free time available farexceeds what might have been prophesied 50 years

COMPACT, JuNE 1968

ago. Instead of being concerned over the masstastes and activities, the present use of free timeshould be considered as the base upon which tobuild a better leisure in the future. This willrequire that all education be subject to the liberal-izing influences of general studies which shouldactually complement the required job training.

The pressing problems facing America in theposition of world leadership require an informedcitizenry and make imperative the developmentof novel and creative national policies. These bydefinition will tend to be disruptive of old valuesand practices and can only be successfully imple-mented with the support of a populace under-standing the need for a change.

Resultant Demands on EducationThe kind of education required as prerequisite

to work, I would suggest, must have the followingcomponents:

General reading, writing and communicationability equivalent to or better than the cur-rent 12th grade level.

Arithmetic ability and the elements of logicalreasoning, including the ability to understandtypical work procedures, preparation offorms, nature of contracts, etc.

An understanding of the basic mechanicaland doctrinal principles of machines, includ-ing motors, generators, combustion engines,linkages, levers, and power transformers.

A knowledge of elementary principles ofeconomics, including notions of capital, prof-its, government debt practices, etc.

But most important must be the commitment,absolute and deep, to the idea of a truly liberaliz-ing education for everyone. Children growing upin the complex and changing technological societyhave a critical need for an enduring system ofvalues. The conservative traditions of educationmust assume primacy, to guarantee humanenessin the emergent society and preserve the finesthuman values which man has distilled from hishistory. These values, extremely difficult to at-tain, which include integrity, self-awareness, self-assurance, introspection and conscientiousness, arepriceless ingredients of the personality. We mustfind new ways to teach the dignity of the indi-vidual. The educational system must give thechild the ability to develop loyalty and appropriatecommitment to larger organizational forms, toconform in ritual and practice, to contribute tothe needs and success of the group while preserv-ing an interior freedom and integrity.

In attempting this, education faces a series ofprofound paradoxes. In a technological society, thehistorical and human values which led to its beingand which must be a vital part of its educational

39

process may appear in conflict with the qualityof life in the society.

A society which places a premium upon loyaltyand conformity to the larger organization mustteach its children to hold dear their self integrityand accord dignity of self to others, sometimes atthe expense of the immediate needs of the group.It must place highest emphasis upon individualityand freedom of decision in the face of the collec-tive nature of the technical act.

To the extent that a technological society takeson aspects of dehumanization, educational leader-ship must counter by placing highest priority uponhuman values.

The Need for New ProgramsIt becomes clear that the most desirable char-

acteristics from the point of view of the employerwill be a background of general education, awillingness to accept continued learning and re-training, the ability to work in team environments,and a willingness to accept change and mobility.New programs must be considered to solve theproblems of education and the passage from child-hood to full participation in society. Such pro-grams might include:1) A more rapid development of the junior college

and technical institute under public and pri-vate sponsorship. This would have the effectof lengthening the education life by two years,and of permitting a more general educationbase. Such a program will probably eventuallybe developed as a result of the enormous de-mand and rising educational expectations ofthe population. There are now 453 public juniorcolleges and 280 private junior colleges, withover 1.5 million enrollment. These figures mustbe drastically increased. A principal problemfacing educators in this area is to make "accept-able and fashionable" the degi ees granted bysuch institutes. Another is to develop programsleaving open the possibility of transfer intofour-year colleges or professional schools forthose who desire to go on.

2) Subsidy, through industry, for the introductionof youngsters into the labor force. Methods toapply the resources of industry, both large andsmall, to solving this problem should be devel-oped. The success of the G.I. Bill in education,in both raising the educational level of thecountry and providing for increased growth,

40

could make it a model for such a program.Further, such a program could provide disad-vantaged groups with special incentives. Itshould be possible to mount federal, state andlocal community programs in concert with in-dustrial firms. Of course, if such programs aredeveloped there will be excesses, as there werein the case of the G.I. Bill. However, they canbe controlled, and even their existence is asmall price to pay for the benefits accruingfrom successful subsidy programs.

3) Making available part-time or early retired in-dividuals for teaching in such programs. Thiswill require more flexible and creative pro-grams on the part of state education depart-ments. Here, again, joint activities by stateagencies and industrial concerns could be prof-itably undertaken.

4) The extension of programs similar to thosebeing undertaken by the federal governmentin concert with private business for the train-ing of youth under the "poverty bill" provi-sions. Training facilities and competencies ofthe industrial world can be matched directlyto critical training problems. Perhaps by ex-panding the program to include joint participa-tion of educational communities and of busi-ness and industry, a new and enduring instru-mentality can be created for solving the prob-lems associated with pre-employment training.

5) Valid work experiences through which highschool students might spend as much as threeto six weeks in plant, office or store locations.Better appreciation of the work would be de-veloped, particularly if such programs weresponsored by industry and school systems ona positive and enthusiastic basis. Such a pro-gram should include participation of the par-ents, so that they too would get an understand-ing of the differences and opportunities in thework community in which their children aremoving.Continued conflict between vocational and

other kinds of educational administration is aneedless waste of time and energies. It is clearthat the vocational aspects of a person's career andhis educational development must procede in anintegrated and healthy fashion. Only through thejoint efforts of vocational education leaders andother administrators can the changes which areimperative be brought about.

COMPACT, Juin 1968

What Is the Responsibility of Business in Modernizing Education?

Excerpts from a 20 page pamphlet, now available from the Chamber ofCommerce of the United States, aimed to encourage businessmen to helpmeet local educational needs.

New dimensions of responsibility and new conceptsof organizing the learning process demand a re-examin-ation of the adequacy of our educational institutions inpreparing Americans for our rapidly changing society.If a Necessary Revolution in American Education(Francis Keppel, 1966: Harper and Row) is in themaking, what responsibilities should the business com-munity share with other community groups in en-couraging and guiding it?

According to the Policy Declarations of the Chamberof Commerce of the United States,

"The well established and highly regarded rightof every American to the opportunity for a soundbasic education requires our constant attentionto see that such education is, in fact, alwaysavailable and available to all."

This proclamation of policy for the U. S. Chamberwas unanimously endorsed by its voting membership.

The Need for ChangeIt is clear that our schools need the understanding

and help of business, and this means much more thandollar support. Every community needs to involve busi-ness leaders in its plans to provide more appropriateopportunities for learning and training through moreeffective teaching and more efficient organization andadministration of schools. Well-rationalized inertia inboth business and education continues, however, todeter this conversion of potential business assistanceinto community action programs for school improve-ment.

Federally sponsored research and teacher trainingprograms have brought a "modern" version of academicsubjects (e.g., modern mathematics and science) intomany schools. Yet vocational-technical career goalsappropriate to most of the teen-age population haverarely been of major influence in such curriculumdevelopment; potential employersand their job ana-lystshave seldom been consulted about the contentor skill required for successful careers; evaluationprocesses have not evolved in terms of readiness foruseful living. Subject-matter academicians seldom col-laborate with vocational teachers, and the false dichot-omy between knowledge and the application of knowl-edge, the "knowers" and the "doers," continues todivide both the courses and the personnel of education.

Businessmen have seldom pressed boards of educa-tion, administrators or teachers to expand and improveguidance programs, work-study programs or on-the-jobtraining, and thus build a prestige for functional edu-cation comparable to that of college preparatory courses.The rapid rise in the non-college-going school popula-tion, especially in larger cities, has magnified the fail-ure to identify occupational aptitudes and abilities and

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

guide students toward career opportunities now goingbegging.

Schools in which the myth of "going to college"dominates curriculum and guidance programs (and pa-rental thinking) are the breeding grounds for delin-quency among the youth who need preparation for theworld of work. Business has contributed to this mythby making high school diplomas a prerequisite to jobsrequiring little abstract academic knowledgeand byrequiring college degrees for technical and supervisorypositions, even though only 12 per cent of the presentlabor force now have such an academic background.

Business Involvement is EssentialWhether the "revolution" in education continues to

be directed by a myriad of federal programs or througha resurgence of state and local leadership, or by somecombination of the two, the modernization of ourschools will need continuous advice and assistance fromthe business community.

For example:1) Any realistic inventory or prediction of needed

manpower to guide the expansion of vocational-technical education requires widespread businessparticipation.

2) Any realistic follow-up of school graduates orschool leavers to discover the quality of theirperformance in the labor force and in societyand hence, the effectiveness of their school prep-arationrequires the participation of business.

3) The modernization of school construction to housenew processes of teaching and administrationdepends on the collaboration of that segment ofthe business community with educational leaders.

4) Likewise, the expanding "learning industry" mustbe in two-way communication with school andcollege leaders if educational technology is tobe appropriate and effective; and such technologymust also be consonant with business' analysesof its own manpower needs.

In general, the climate for necessary changes ineducation can only develop rationally and rapidly ina community where two-way communication betweenbusiness and education is well established and con-tinuous.

Whether such business collaboration in modernizingeducation is pursued directly through leadership inmodernizing state and local school systems, or indirect-ly through contracts with federal agencies institutingprograms to change the schools, there can be no doubtthat business must accept a major share of the respon-sibility for the outcome of the educational revolutionnow in process.

41

CHARLES H. PERCY

The Private Sector in Vocational Education

Serving his first term in the Senate, Illinois' Senator Percy was previouslyChairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bell and HowellCompany. He has been chairman of the Ford Foundation's Fund for AdultEducation and the New Illinois Committee, which initiates projects in edu-cation, slum housing, community deve',opment and job opportunities.

The problem of qualifying the disadvantagedfor productive employment has existed for a longtime. But with the continuing migration of under-educated minority-group families, primarilyNegro, from rural areas to the urban ghettos, ithas grown rapidly both in size and intensity. Nowwe see all too clearly the tragic consequences ofour earlier failures. Little will be served, how-ever, by looking back. The immediate challengeis to move decisively to correct the mistakes ofthe past and to chart a better future.

A distinction must be made between technical-vocational training for the person who alreadyhas the background which will allow him to useit and training for the person who first must beexposed to basic educational programs. The his-tory of job-training programs has shown all tooclearly that the ability to assimilate, retain andapply basic job skills is low among many urbanunemployed persons. As a result, they are notprepared to take advantage of vocational pro-grams which assume basic educational and socialskills.

This problem must be solved on two broadfronts. The first is to upgrade and reorient pre-school, primary and secondary education so thatat each stage the individual is properly motivated,given the opportunity to acquire skills, and pre-pared to learn the skills. But the second andmore immediate problem is the training of thosealready in the employment market or soon toenter it. This article will focus on the secondaspect, with emphasis on the role that the privatesector must play and the kind of legislation thatcan encourage and foster participation of allaspects of our private sector.

It has become increasingly apparent that re-

42

nilval of the economic and social barriers whichimpAson poor America is too large a task forthe laderal government alone. The diversity ofthe problems from region to region and city tocity is such that the federal government cannotadministratively or financially meet all needs inall places. This is especially true when it comesto creating jobs and preparing people for them.A program which works for the textile industryin the South may have little relevance to themeat packing industry in the Middle West or theaero-space industry on the Pacific Coast. Local andstate authorities and the private sector, encour-aged and assisted by the federal government, canmove more rapidly and more intensively than canthe administrators of federal programs who mustmake the basic decisions from afar.

Some leaders in business and industry longhave recognized a private sector responsibilityto help solve social and economic problems. Recentevents have sharpened this awareness so thatthe entire business community in America gen-erally now recognizes that it must help solvemany of our country's domestic problems. Thequestion is how?

Present Involvement of Private BusinessBusiness and industry involvement in voca-

tional training falls into three basic types.The oldest of these is the individual firm ap-

proach. McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis, Missouri,runs a training program for men and women whohave neither high school diplomas nor specialskills. It starts with classroom instruction in basiceducation but quickly puts the trainees on theproduction line where they gain actual workexperience. The employees are paid during theentire training period.

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

One of the more dramatic examples of indus-try initiative was provided by Aero-Jet Generalin Los Angeles, which moved into Watts with asubsidiary formed specifically to hire the unem-ployed. The firm bought an abandoned factory,won a contract' to manufacture military tents,and hired people Without testing for knowledgeor skills. Eighty per cent of the original workforce of 440 persons had no previous work ex-perience; half had police records. After the initialtrial period, absentee and retention rates aver-aged that of comparable non-ghetto businesses.

The second form of private sector involve-ment is through cooperative efforts among a num-ber of firms, often working in conjunction withcommunity organizations. The Business Indus-trial Coordinating Council in Newark, New Jersey,is a non-profit association of business organiza-tions and civil rights groups. The Council operatesjob recruitment, placement and training pro-grams, with job opportunities offered by theparticipating firms and companies. Another sucheffort is being undertaken on Chicago's WestSide, with 101 companies participating in coopera-tion with civic organizations and City Hall. Oneof the reasons for this coordinated effort wasthat smaller companies could not afford to under-take job training programs individually but atthe same time could not meet their labor needsfrom the available market.

The third category includes those companieswhich have undertaken training programs in co-operation with local boards of education or in-dividual schools. Western Electric has been aleader in this field. Beginning in 1962, this firmworked with school administra Lors in New Jerseyon local vocational education programs. In 1963,it set up a pilot "basic technology" course for non-college-bound high school freshmen. in BayonneHigh School. The concept was extended over thenext two years to two other high schools. Afterlast summer's riots in Detroit. Michigan, the BellTelephone Company "adopted" a primarily Negrohigh school and provided both equipment andpersonnel to help teach vocational skills and dis-courage dropouts. Chrysler Corporation is follow-ing up with a similar program in another ghettoschool to train students as auto mechanics.

The above, I am pleased to say, represent onlya fraction of the efforts that are being made bythe private sector. Some take advantage of sub-sidies under existing federal programs; othersare undertaken completely at the expense of in-dividual companies.

Private Training OrganizationsAnother development which holds promise is

the emergence of companiesboth profit and non-profitwhich have as their only product thetraining of unemployed and unemployable adults

COMPACT, JUNE 1968

for the job market. One of these is a non-profitorganization in Indianapolis, Indiana, called theBoard of Fundamental Education. It has demon-strated that it can raise a prospective workerfrom the equivalent of a 4th to an 8th grade edu-cation in 150 hours of on-the-job training at acost of about $300less than it costs many com-panies to recruit and screen an already qualifiedjob applicant'. Another firm, MIND Incorporatedin Greenwich, Connecticut, does the same jobfor a profit, and has been extremely successful.It now has contracts with more than 50 com-panies, including some of the largest in the coun-try. In Chicago, Brunswick Corporation's Com-munity Resources Division operates Project Up-grade in cooperation with the U. S. Departmentof Labor. Brunswick works with individual firmsto teach basic skills that prepare prospective em-ployees for job training programs and, with fed-eral funds, will help underwrite job training pro-grams.

Legislative Proposals

Recent legislation has taken cognizance ofsuch efforts. More and more laws are designedto facilitate and encourage community initiativeand private sector involvement.

Formulating legislation that stimulates privatesector involvement is not a simple matter. Myexperience with one bill is illustrative.

In late 1967, I prepared legislation entitledthe Employment Incentive Act. The objective ofthis bill was to enable individual firms to pro-vide on-the-job training to employees, with thefederal government paying much of the cost.Stated simply, it provided for a subsidy whichwould cover the difference between the legalminimum wage and the actual economic value ofthe employee to the firm, with the subsidy pro-gressively diminishing as the employee's produc-tivity increased. While preparing the legislation,I sent out a questionnaire to major firms through-out the country requesting an evaluation of itsprovisions.

When the replies came in, it was apparentthat the bill had missed some important points.First, the larger firms, which were envisionedas significant employers under the program, hiremost of their employees above the minimum wage.Thus the incentive in my bill was not sufficientto encourage broad participation. Many firms ex-pressed a disinclination to become involved withthe paper work, inspections and possible govern-ment control that they feared would follow anyfederal program. A number of major firms saidthey already had programs to train the unem-ployed which they preferred to continue financ-ing alone rather than risk becoming involvedwith government red tape.

43

I then asked, the advice of over 8,000 smallbusinesses in the state of Illinois. Their sug-gestions and comments were also enlightening.They indica ted that thousands of new jobs wouldbe made available in Illinois alone if the redtape could be eliminated from the program.

The point is that, all too often, legislationwhich looks good on paper simply is not prac-tical for those who have to put it into operation,And when it is not practical, it obviously willbe largely ignored or used for the wrong pur-poses. I am now working on a revision of theEmployment Incentive Act, taking into consider-ation the comments received from industry. Thenew bill will be based on easily administered taxincentives and a prevailing wage concept. I hopethe Congress will consider incentive legislationof this nature this year.

Other bills which have been introduced arebased on the concept that the private sector hasthe ability-and the responsibility-to deal withthe hard-core unemployment problem. One of themost significant is the National Manpower Act of1968, a comprehensive response to the challengesposed by the report of the National Advisory Com-mission on Civil Disorders. In addition, Senatorsand Representatives on both sides of the aisleare giving close and critical attention to Admin-istration-sponsored legislation, seeking ways inwhich bills can be amended to shift major respon-sibility for administration of programs to localjurisdictions where private sector involvementcan be stimulated and utilized to best advantage.

The Responsibility of the Private SectorLest I be accused of attributing too utopian

a view to the American business and industrialcommunity, I should emphasize that for manyindividual firms the establishment of programs totrain the disadvantaged makes good economicsense. This, however, leads to a further question-that of the extent to which business and indus-

Major occupationgroup

try will or should be concerned with trainingprograms that do not directly relate to providingqualified employees for their own use. Individualfirms cannot be expected to provide training notrelated to their own employment needs. It is inthis area that City Hall and community organiza-tions must take the lead, providing the stimulusand funds that will involve business in coopera-tive training programs. Such programs are of vitalimportance in providing qualified employees forbusiness which have neither the financial re-sources nor the personnel to join in training pro-grams.

A discussion of the private sector should notbe limited to commercial and industrial profit-making organizations. One of the most significantsources of private sector stimulus to all of theseprograms can come from the labor unions. Laborcan make a significant additional contribution byre-examining its precepts for acceptance of indi-viduals into membership, particularly in the fieldof apprentice training. Labor has a responsibilityto devise programs of pre-apprenticeship trainingin the same way that industry must provide basiceducational training.

The tasks of providing training to qualifypeople for jobs, and then creating the jobs forthe people trained, are inseparable. Thus it isboth good sense and good business for the jobsuppliers to provide the job training. Many aredoing this now, but they cannot overcome ourpresent urban job problems alone any more thanthe problems can be solved by government alone.The final solution to the problems of the unem-ployed and underemployed can only come througha creative partnership between the private sectorand local and state government. If this partner-ship is then promoted by federal legislation, with-out imposing controls which will stifle initiativeand imagination, rapid solutions can and willbe found.

Employment by Major Occupation Group, 1964,and Projected Requirements, 1975'

Number(in

millions)

1964 1975Per- Numbercent (in

millions)

Per- Percent

1=-4;5cent

Total employment 70.4 100.0 88.7 100.0 26

White-collar workers 31.1 44.2 42.8 48.3 38

Professional, technical and kindred workers 8.6 12.2 13.2 14.9 54

Managers, officials, and proprietors, except farm 7.5 10.6 9.2 10.4 23

Clerical and kindred workers 10.7 15.2 14.6 16.5 37

Sale workers 4.5 6.3 5.8 6.5 30

Blue-collar workers 25.5 36.3 29.9 33.7 17

Craftsmen, foremen, and kindred workers 9.0 12.8 11.4 12.8 27

Operatives and kindred workers 12.9 18.4 14.8 16.7 15

Laborers, except farm and mine 3.6 5.2 3.7 4.2 2

Service workers 9.3 13.2 12.5 14.1 35

Formers and farm managers, laborers, and foremen 4.4 6.3 3.5 3.9 21

Projections assume a national unemployment rote of 3 per cent in 1975.

2 Less than 3 per cent.NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.Source: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, America'sindustrial and Occupational Manpower Requirements, 1984-75.

44 COMPACT, JUNE 1968

Total Expenditures For Vocational-Technical Education By Source Of Funds And By Stat.Fiscal Year 1965

State GrandTotal

Federal I State and Local

Total State Local

Total $604,645,7272 $156,936,015 $447,709,712 $186,734,833 $260,974,879

Alabama 14,449,856 3,312,723 11,137,133 5,943,867 5,193,266

Alaska 340,183 120,592 219,591 137,563 82,028

Arizona 3,697,388 1,139,979 2,557,409 804,517 1,752,392

Arkansas 6,176,080 1,652,783 4,523,297 1,498,545 3,024,752

California 53,863,310 11,221,985 42,641,325 796,111 41,845,214

Colorado 4,556,808 1,433,839 3,122,969 415,624 2,707,345

Connecticut 8,080,351 1,783,460 6,296,891 5,771,115 525,776

Delaware 1,810,746 418,974 1,391,772 1,191,357 200,415

Florida 17,814,618 3,671,686 14,142,932 8,491,178 5,651,754

Georgia 17,061,420 4,618,639 12,442,781 4,490,614 7,952,167

Hawaii 2,080,926 652,495 1,428,431 1,428,431 0

Idaho 2,390,197 878,270 1,511,927 709,239 802,688

Illinois 16,024,552 5,522,469 10,502,083 3,675,189 6,826,894

Indiana 12,730,603 4,063,691 8,666,912 1,686,109 6,980,803

Iowa 6,760,715 2,413,956 4,346,759 743,132 3,603,627

Kansas 6,148,538 2,089,300 4,059,238 843,779 3,215,459

Kentucky 11,413,816 3,836,442 7,577,374 6,685,914 891,460

Louisiana 10,415,443 2,301,196 8,114,247 914,630 7,199,617

Maine 1,479,192 492,970 986,222 558,721 427,501

Maryland 9,563,315 2,401,567 7,161,748 5,369,252 1,792,496

Massachusetts 16,526,441 3,650,374 12,876,367 5,851,631 7,024,436

Michigan 19,558,577 6,471,752 13,086,825 1,268,363 11,818,462

Minnesota 17,525,927 3,539,090 13,986,837 3,625,945 10,360,892

Mississippi 9,471,308 3,062,512 6,408,796 2,643,748 3,765,048

Missouri 8,881,869 2,773,217 6,108,652 889,493 5,219,159

Montana 1,166,840 302,734 864,106 216,615 647,491

Nebraska 3,412,439 1,272,284 2,140,155 288,873 1,851,282

Nevada 1,867,971 445,971 1,422,000 257,290 1,164,710

New Hampshire 2,466,977 653,563 1,813,414 1,433,614 379,800

New Jersey 12,632,441 4,229,140 8,403,301 3,581,982 4,821,319

New Mexico 3,173,236 1,017,223 2,156,013 272,241 1,883,772

New York 69,509,415 11,803,278 57,706,137 29,341,296 28,364,841

North Carolina 23,790,690 5,942,583 17,848,107 11,668,244 6,179,863

North Dakota 2,754,511 933,950 1,820,561 929,300 891,261

Ohio 24,285,713 8,037,830 16,247,883 6,011,451 10,236,432

Oklahoma 10,881,181 2,943,655 7,937,526 885,216 7,052,310

Oregon 5,138,918 1,670,337 3,468,581 1,432,650 2,035,931

Pennsylvania 31,787,061 8,866,677 22,920,384 8,547,683 14,372,701

Rhode Island 2,285,492 831,303 1,454,189 940,403 513,786

South Carolina 9,894,956 3,038,626 6,856,330 4,260,949 2,595,381

South Dakota 1,943,586 714,479 1,229,107 83,186 1,145,921

Tennessee 13,590,820 4,243,552 9,347,268 4,353,683 4,993,585

Texas 41,311,080 9,033,178 32,277,902 24,638,135 7,639,767

Utah 4,933,617 962,372 3,971,245 161,098 3,810,147

Vermont 1,445,190 431,764 1,013,426 272,349 741,077

Virginia 13,899,421 3,595,470 10,303,951 5,821,341 4,482,610

Washington 9,773,673 2,514,630 7,259,043 2,554,295 4,704,748

West Virginia 5,162,657 1,778,441 3,384,216 463,027 2,921,189

Wisconsin 15,961,949 3,891,883 12,070,066 4,019,100 8,050,966

Wyoming 871,150 184,460 686,690 56,852 629,838

Dist. of Columbia 1,344,547 545,858 798,689 798,689

Guam 162,472 79,707 82,765 82,765

Puerto Rico 10,198,389 3,391,502 6,806,887 6,806,887

Virgin Islands 177,156 55,604 121,552 121,552

l Vocational Education Act of 1963, Smith-Hughes and George-Barden Acts.

2 Includes expenditures not changeable to any specific occupational program.

Source: Vocational and Technical Education Annual Report, U. S. Office of Education, 1965.

COMPACT is pubtished hi-monthly by the EducationCommission of the States, a non-profit organizationformed by the Compact for Education in June 1966.Forty-one states and territories are now members ofthe Compact, of which the unique goal is to further aworking relationship among state governors, legislatorsand educators for the improvement of education.

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