Evening star., 1916-12-10

100000 for the fiscal year 1s1s-2o. and
annually. thereafter.
-. For the work Of the federal bu-
reau for vocational education: That
there be appropriated 100000 annually,
this money to be used in administering
the grants to the states and in furnish
ing information and advice to the
states for use in vocational schools
and classes.
"The maximum in each case above is
continued annually thereafter"
Schools to Be Aided.
The schools to be aided must be less
than college grade; they should be
schools where boys and girls Of about
fourteen are prepared for profitable en-
ployment
The Hughes bill specifies certain condi-
tions under which the proposed grants
of money shall be made. In general, 1t
provides that the states must accept the
conditions of the federal grant through
legislative enactment and must appro-
pirate for vocational educational purposes
81 from the state treasury for every dol
lar the government grants to the state.
Need for Enactment.
The need for the enactment of the bill
is touched on in the report as follows:
only a meager percentage of the
workers of today are trained for their
work, and the armies of children going
out from school at fourteen and fifteen
years of age annually swell the ranks
of the unframed. Whether from neces-
sity or not, the, economic fact is that
the mass of children go to work as soon
as the laws of the various states per-
init. 1t is not solely because the chill
dren and their parents do not appre-
more than half of the entire number
who enter the elementary school do not
remain to complete it. 1t is. at least to
some extent, because neither they nor
their parents are able to see in the
schools of today an opportunity for ed
ucation and training to fit for callings
which they must pursue. 1t is for the
states and the nation not only to see
that these children are prepared for
life's battles before they leave school.
but to supplement their work by after
training in part-time and evening
schools, so as to insure them the largest
possible opportunity for development in
everything that. makes for useful and
happy citizenship.
Way to Handle Boy.
'The age at which a boy or girl
is likely to drop out of school is the
the period when he
ought not to be allowed to drift be-
cause of the inevitable fruits of idle
ness. At this period the youth is trying
to find himself. If he is to become a
wage Garner the nation ought to make
it possible for him easily to find his field
1t should be his choice rather than his
lot. A system of continuation schools
ought to be provided so that when the
boy takes up some work it does not
mean that his education must stop. The
two should not be alternative. but CO.
operative. 1t ought to be so provided that
his work is but the application of his
schooling. This is made possible by the
part-time and evening schools, both of
which are made feasible by this bill.
Under this scheme a boy at work does
not mean a boy out of school.
This bill is written upon the theory
that the aim of utility in education is
not inconsistent with the dignity and
culture of training. This proposed
legislation rests upon the principle that
any piece of work that reflects thought
fulness in the worker shows in that de-
gree at least the element of culture"