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PUBLICATIONS.

The society has issued the following publications during the year: Bulletin No. 18: Proceedings of Seventh Annual Convention, Grand Rapids, Mich.

Bulletin No. 19: The Selection and Training of Teachers for State-Aided Industrial Schools for Boys and Men.

It has distributed, through the courtesy of other agencies, the following:

Bulletins, University of Wisconsin, on

Industrial Education and Dependency.

Mechanical Engineering and Industrial subjects for correspondence study.

The Administration of State Aid for Vocational Education.

Bawden.

Bulletins Department of Public Instruction, Indiana, on vocational education. Progress in Vocational Education. Bawden.

An Endowed Trade School in a Large City. Gustafson.

A correspondence course in life insurance.

Part-Time Education in Indianapolis. Chamber of Commerce.

Constant and Variable Occupations and their Bearing on Problems of Vocational Education. Russell Sage Foundation.

Report of Missouri State Teachers' Association.

Report of Federal Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education (vol. 1).

COOPERATION.

The society has in one way or another cooperated with the following: United States Bureau of Education-Publications and conferences at Richmond convention.

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics-Publications; the Richmond survey; arrangements for San Francisco exhibit.

State officials in charge of agricultural and industrial education-Conferences at Staten Island dealing with principles and policies involved.

Chambers of commerce of the United States: Bulletin on What Chambers of
Commerce can do for Vocational Education. A. E. Dodd.

General Federation of Women's Clubs-Vocational education committee.
National Metal Trades Association-Committee on vocational education.

National Education Association:

Committee on vocational education and vocational guidance.
Department of Superintendence-Cincinnati meeting.

Russell Sage Foundation-Publications and Richmond survey.
National Vocational Guidance Association-Convention.

American Federation of Labor-Committee on industrial education.
Pratt Institute. During the past year a class for the training of trade teachers
was conducted at Pratt Institute, which was in a measure a direct result of the
Report on the Training and Certification of Teachers made earlier in the year
by the society, and was conducted in agreement with the principles and poli-
cies laid down in that report. The society further cooperated in this experi-
ment by conferences with the authorities of Pratt Institute and the Board of
Education of New York City, concerning the aim and conduct of the work, by
supplying to the class literature on industrial education, assisting in placing
the graduates of the course, and by otherwise placing at the disposal of the
instructor the resources of the office.

New York State Factory Investigating Commission--A study was made of the paper-box industry and department stores from the standpoint of the possibility of vocational training in these industries. This investigation, which also included a study of the wage value of vocational training, was made for the purpose of gathering information to be used in connection with a report by the commission on a proposed minimum-wage law; and, though, very brief, was conducted along the general lines previously worked out by the society in the survey of the dress and waist industry. The investigation, which was confined largely to New York City, was under the direction of Wesley A. O'Leary, of the society, who was working with the advice and assistance of C. A. Prosser.

Board of Education, New York City-Informal conferences were held from time to time with various officials in the department of education concerning problems of industrial education, especially those having to do with the examination and certification of teachers; the equipment and organization of schools; and the adaptation of the work of the lecture bureau to the industrial educational needs of the people. At the request of a committee from the board of education, a plan for the examination and licensing of teachers was formulated and presented in conference with the committee.

NATIONAL VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE ASSOCIATION.

In October, 1913, a meeting was called in Grand Rapids, Mich., for the purpose of considering the advisability of organizing a society to study the problems of vocational guidance. There was a hearty responso, a large and enthusiastic attendance, and careful deliberation over the respective merits of a plan to organize as a section or department of some existing association, and of a plan to found an independent organization. After full discussion the counsel of the advocates of the latter plan prevailed, and the National Vocational Guidance Association was organized.

The constitution adopted at Grand Rapids provides for an executive council of five members, upon which rests the responsibility for directing association activity. Prof. Frank M. Leavitt, University of Chicago, was elected president, and Mr. Jesse B. Davis, of Grand Rapids, Mich., secretary. At the first annual convention, held in Richmond, Va., December, 1914, in conjunction with the meeting of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, an admirable program was presented.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE MIDDLE WEST.

The vocational Education Association of the Middle West was founded in 1913 in response to a demand for a society to voice the vocational creed of men and women engaged in education, in commerce, or in industry. Article II of the constitution states that:

The objects of this association shall be to study problems relating to vocational education and to bring the results of this study to public attention for the purpose of fostering types of education that will meet the vocational needs of youth and the reasonable demands of industry for efficient workers, while preserving those elements of general education necessary for good citizenship in a democracy.

The leaders in the organization of the association take the position that affiliation with national associations for industrial education, while highly desirable, will not satisfy the local needs of the Middle West. For this reason it was decided to organize a society for the study of special conditions and problems in the Mississippi Valley, and to formulate plans for an effective coordination of the various agencies interested in vocational education.

The association has set up two definite aims: (1) To meet as a study class for the discussion of ways and means to promote the best types of vocational education. For this purpose members will visit industrial plants, and public, private, and corporation schools where experiments in vocational education are being carried on. The information obtained from these visits, and from other sources, will be analyzed through class discussions open to all members. These preliminary discussions will be utilized to determine the special features to be presented in public at the annual convention of the association. (2) The association will endeavor to arouse public sentiment in favor of careful legislative action, if legislation seems necessary to the accomplishment of the ends sought.

The by-laws provide for the organization of four special working committees, of 11 members each, whose duties shall be to study the topics suggested by the titles of the committees, and to present the results of such study to the committees on program and publicity. The titles of the committees are: Commercial education, industrial education, agricultural education, vocational guidance.

The permanent organization of the board of directors, to consist of the officers and 30 additional members, has not yet been perfected. It is proposed to make the board representative of all agencies interested in vocational education. The president of the association is Mr. W. J. Bogan, principal, Lane Technical High School, Chicago, and the secretary is Miss Anne S. Davis. The offices of the association are at Sedgwick and Division Streets, Chicago.

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.

Programs both of the superintendent's department of the National Education Association and of the regular meeting in July tend to establish the fact that vocational education has come to be recognized as one of the permanent movements in education. This is further emphasized by the renaming of the department of the National Education Association, formerly known as Manual Training and Art, which is now to be known as the Department of Vocational Education and Practical Arts.

It is especially significant that most of the sessions held by nearly all departments at the meeting in St. Paul dealt with some phase of the problem of vocational education.

73226°- -ED 1914-VOL 1--18

Much work has been accomplished by the special committee upon vocational education and vocational guidance, appointed at the Chicago meeting. A report of progress was presented and accepted, and an additional appropriation of $500 allowed the committee for the continuance of the work. The personnel of the committee remains the same as last year, with Robert J. Fuller, superintendent of schools, North Attleboro, Mass., as chairman.

The report of the committee this year took the form of two pamphlets:

(1) The first, 64 pages, consisted of a questionnaire submitted by the chairman to several hundred members of the association. The varied replies illustrated in this pamphlet, together with the comparative unanimity of opinion on the main issues involved, serve as a basis not only for further action of the committee, but for the assistance of any who are interested in introducing this work into school systems.

(2) The second piece of work of this committee was a report on terminology, prepared by Dr. David Snedden, commissioner of education for Massachusetts, assisted by Mr. C. R. Allen, and the chairman of the committee. The general adoption throughout the country of the terms thus prepared would result in less confusion than at present exists in the use of the terms in vocational education, not only in discussion, but in actual practice in carrying forward other work.

It is now proposed by this committee to continue the preparation of the handbook referred to last year, and to add to the previous work studies in vocational guidance under the direction of the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Meyer Bloomfield.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATION SCHOOLS.

The National Association of Corporation Schools came into existence in 1913 as the result of the establishment, by several large industrial corporations, of educational courses for the benefit of their employees. Thirty-one corporations sent delegates to the organizing convention, which was held in one of the recitation rooms of New York University, New York, N. Y., January 24, 1913.

Dayton, Ohio, was selected for the first annual convention, which was held in September, 1913, in the plant of the National Cash Register Company. The second convention was held in June, 1914, in the auditorium of the Curtis Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

Objects.-The officers assert that it is not the desire of the National Association of Corporation Schools, or of any of its constituent members so far as known, that the Federal Government, the State, or the municipality should prepare children to do certain lines of work in the interest of corporations. The functions of the associa

tion are declared to be: (1) To develop the efficiency of the individual employee; (2) to increase efficiency in industry; (3) to seek the modification of courses in established educational institutions in order that they may more fully meet the needs of industry.

The officers of the association protest that in many unauthorized attempts at public explanation or criticism, its motives and purposes have been entirely misunderstood. The association professes to stand on the broad platform of education in the best interests of the individual, as well as of industry, and the social whole. "American industry needs every effort to get young men and women broadly educated, and individually developed, so far as possible. The question of specific knowledge is entirely incidental, and can be easily supplied after the individual has secured a broad education."

Membership.-Members are divided into three classes: Class A members, including commercial, industrial, and transportation companies, or governmental organizations, whether under corporation, firm, or individual ownership, which now are or may be interested in the education of their employees.

Class B members, including officers, managers, or instructors of schools conducted by corporations that are class A members.

Class C members, including those in sympathy with the objects of the association, who are not eligible for membership in class A or class B.

The class A membership numbered 56 corporations August 1, 1914. The president is Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, General Electric Company. A series of monthly bulletins is published and distributed from the office of the assistant secretary-treasurer, F. C. Henderschott, Irving Place and Fifteenth Street, New York, N. Y.

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

In a recent number of "The Nation's Business," the official organ of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the statement is made editorially that "all commercial organizations exist because of an intention to confer community benefit." Actuated by some such spirit as this, the local chambers of commerce in all parts of the country are taking an active interest in educational affairs, and especially, during the past year, in proposals for vocational education.

The officials of the national organization recently conducted an investigation to determine just what is being done in various cities, and report themselves as highly gratified—

to find that commercial organizations in all parts of the country are showing definite interest in the better preparation of boys for work in the world. The results indicate that when the need of the community has been ascertained, the commercial organization is the center of an immediate effort to better conditions.

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