The Washington times., 1914-09-24
Vocational English
For Schools Here
Course, Devised by Washington
Woman, Aims to Train Ana
ytical PoWers-Adoption by
Board Predicted.

A remarkable innopation in p0cG-
ional training is being considered
for the public schools Of Wash
.ngton.
Mention "pocationdl trainiHg
md the last thing the average
auditor would think of would be
English. But EDUCATIONAL Eng
ish'' is the course now under con-
ideration by the Board of Educa-
ion. This course Was outlined and
uranged by Miss Ina c. Emery, Il
Washington Woman widely known
for her educational work, as nell
Is for her output Of magazine fc-
lion.
Adaptation of her methods 10
public school work mas undertaken
At the suggestion of Dr.. w. M.
DAVIDSON, former superintendent
If schools here. Miss Emery has
lust returned from Pittsburgh,
where she Was a guest of Dr.. and
Mrs. DdVidSon, and she tells some
hing of the work Dr.. Davidson is
doing in Pittsburgh.
By ]. R. HILDEBRAND.
Vocational education in Washing
ton schools is to receive its first big
impetus If a plan now being con-
sidered by the Board of Education
is adopted. 1t generally is believed
that the board will act favorably on
the project
The surprising feature of this plan
is that it does not embody manual
training. or business training, as the
term vocational" suggests This
idea does not aim to teach pupils to
work with their hands, but to do
better and more efficient work with
their minds
More surprising still, to those who
have regarded language and litera-
ture as more ornamental than prac-
tfcal. the new course is a course IN
English-in vocational English
That is the term for the course
sanctioned by Miss Ina C. Emery, its
originator. But, she hastens to ex-
plain. vocational English" does not
tend to make authors out of every
public school child. 1t simply aims i,
to teach them to think, on the one
hand, and to furnish an inspirational
basis on the other. which will fit
them better for the assimilation OF
all other branches of study.
Twenty Years a Teacher.
Miss Emery is no newcomer in the
field of English teaching and ltera-
ture study. For nearly twenty years
she has carried on correspondence
courses In short story writing. and
other branches of work in English.
She has written nearly 1000 short
stories and several novels.
Nor is Miss Emery's experience
confined to the technical side of
writing. Her extensive travel, and
observations of nearly every phase
OF contemporary life and conditions
have endowed her with an interest
ing and magnetic personality. She
has jumped from a summer at New
port to study Of conditions in the
slums of industrial centers. She has
gone from the gay life of New York
into the mines and squalid homes of
Wilkesbarre and Scranton She has
toured foreign lands, always on the
hunt for out-of-the-way and pIctur-
esque places and scenes MANY Of
these experiences have been en-
bodied in her own stories and those
which she wrote in collaboration
Sith pupils.
Miss Emery's formulation of
course in vocational English was the
result of a request by DR.. w NJ /
Davidson. former Superintendent of
Schools. that she work out such
plan OF study. Since then members
Of the Board of Education here have
taken a deep interest in her project.
and the course, now nearly COM