Table 15 shows that the Federal program is rendering service to an increasing number of people. Enrollments in the fields of agriculture and home economics have expanded more proportionately during the past decade than enrollments in the other fields of service in vocational education.

A somewhat more exact picture of the expansion in enrollments may be obtained by analyzing the number of all-day pupils enrolled in reimbursed classes in full-time secondary schools. Without any implications that services to this group of young people are the most important part of the program of vocational education, an analysis of such enrollments has the advantage of dealing with units that are reasonably standard. Table 16 shows the number of all-day pupils enrolled in secondary school classes in the three fields. In the case of agriculture, the so-called day-unit classes have been included.1

TABLE 16.-Enrollments in federally aided all-day classes in vocational education in agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics, by year, 1918 to 1937 1

1 In the day-unit program pupils pursuing the usual public school course take a minimum of 90 minutes a week in some short-unit course of instruction in technical agriculture and do at least six months of directed or supervised practice in agriculture. The day-unit classes are maintained in schools in which the enrollment is too small or the schools are unable to maintain a regular all-day program in agriculture. One teacher may conduct a unit course in each of several neighboring schools.

The expansion of enrollments indicated in Table 15 must be interpreted in the light of the general increases that have occurred in enrollments of the secondary schools. In 1920 the enrollments of pupils in all-day classes in the federally aided program c vocational education were 3.1 percent of the total enrollment in public high schools. In 1930 the figure (excluding Hawaii) was 5.7 percent. In 1934, the latest year for which figures on total enrollments in public high schools are available, the enrollment in federally reimbursed classes in such schools in the 48 States constituted 7.7 percent of the total. It is clear that the enrollments in all-day classes in vocational education are increasing much more rapidly than the total enrollment of the high school.

If it may be assumed that at a maximum each pupil in the full-time high school should have the advantage of a course 3 in vocational education during two of his high school years, then about 50 percent of the high school pupils should be enrolled in vocational classes each year. On the basis of this assumption, between 15 and 16 percent of the potential demand for vocational education is met by the present Federal program. Even if it be assumed that students preparing for college entrance should not be given any vocational training at the secondary level (an assumption that is not here defended), the present program is meeting only about 18 percent of the potential demand. Both of these calculations overestimate the extent of the service in terms of its relation to potential demand, because a considerable number of young people who should be benefited by vocational education are not enrolled in the secondary school.

Calculation may be made on another basis by noting that there are in this country approximately 2,300,000 young people of any given age to whom the full-time school program of vocational education applies. If again it can be assumed that at a maximum every young person should have the

* See U. S. Office of Education Bulletin, 1935, No. 2, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States: 1932–1934 (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1937), ch. II, p. 52, for data on secondary school enrollments.

As here used a course is equivalent to one-fourth of the pupil's program during a year. 4 U. S. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population, vol. II (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1933), p. 595. The number of persons each year of age for the ages 14-20, inclusive, varies from 2.2 millions to 2.4 millions.

opportunity to take a vocational course during two years in the later part of the secondary school period, the potential enrollment in vocational classes at any one time would approximate a maximum of 4,600,000. The 1936 enrollment of 544,808 pupils in reimbursed vocational classes in the 48 States thus constitutes about one-eighth (12 percent) of the total possible demand for vocational education. This percentage is raised to slightly over 13 percent if pupils who later enter college are excluded from the computation.

Another method of appraising the service in each of the fields of vocational education is through the calculation of the percentage of the young people of the appropriate age groups who are taking courses in federally reimbursed classes. Table 17 shows for each State the percentage which the enrollments in home economics were of the total number of girls 15 to 18 years of age, the percentage the enrollments in agriculture were of the total number of farm boys 15 to 18 years of age, and the percentage which the enrollments of boys in trades and industries were of total urban boys 15 to 18 years of age. The population data were taken from the 1930 census. The enrollment figures are for 1935-36, and include only all-day or day-unit classes.

TABLE 17.-Percentage ratio of all-day enrollments, 1935–36, in various vocational subjects in federally aided schools or classes to corresponding population groups 15-18 years of age, inclusive, 1930, by State 1

* Includes all-day and day-unit classes only. See Digest of Annual Reports of State Boards for Vocational Education . . 1936, Statistical and Financial Tables, sec. I, Table 5.

TABLE 17.-Percentage ratio of all-day enrollments, 1935–36, in various vocational subjects in federally aided schools or classes to corresponding population groups 15-18 years of age, inclusive, 1930, by State-Con.

1 Data on enrollments were taken from Digest of Annual Reports of State Boards for Vocational Education 1936, Statistical and Financial Tables, sec. I, Table 5. Population data were taken from U. S. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population, vol. II (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1933), Table 21, p. 595; Table 23, p. 598-9; and Table 28, p. 681. Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico are not included in the table above, since appropriate population data are not available. 21,207 persons enrolled in day-unit classes are included here.

Table 17 shows considerable variation among the States in the percentage of young people of high school age who are enrolled in federally reimbursed all-day classes in vocational

education. Part of this variation is explainable by the varying extent to which the States use their allotments for programs of the evening school and part-time type. The situation is also affected by the basis on which the funds are distributed to the States. As previously explained the States vary considerably in the percentage of their total population within the 15- to 18-year age span. The funds are distributed to the States on the basis of total population in certain residential groupings regardless of age; the amount available for each pupil of high school age is therefore not the same in each State.

Table 17 also shows that in general the program in agriculture is far more successful than the programs in either home economics or trades and industries in reaching with all-day classes the population groups for whom intended. As has been previously pointed out, the reimbursed program in home economics has had relatively meager appropriations compared to the other two fields, and its failure to reach larger numbers is probably attributable in part to lack of support. The program in trades and industries quite appropriately gives emphasis to part-time and evening classes rather than to all-day classes, and the small percentages shown in Table 17 for this field are in part caused by the use of funds for adult groups.

Opportunities for adult education.-The Federal program for vocational education may unquestionably be given credit for the expansion of facilities for adult education. Table 18 shows the enrollments in evening and part-time classes in each of the three fields of occupational preparation for each year from 1918 to 1937.

• See p. 103.

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