New Britain herald., 1916-02-10
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
 CONFERENCES HERE
(Continued From First Page.,

guidance proceeds upon the assunp- tIon that we should do nothing fur eher than to present facts, point out Posslplhtes and give opportunity of experience in type forms of industrv m order to supply as much industrial intelligence as is possimle, leaving in Q rlnal choice to the individual who & must choose in view of all the circu,n stances of the case both those over winch he had no command as well ns those which he is able to control It IS the last type of vocational guidance which we believe to be safest ana surest as working basis, and it is & tnAs type Which we are endeayorinr 10 employ in connection with the work N or the PreVocational Grammar school M work or our own school system. It is \ or thls preVocational school work IS an s aid to vocational guidance that I am N expected to say a few words
 a Opinions of Experts. In a report made December, 1915, TO the school board of the city of S Hichmond, Va, With reference to he ueVelopment of schools for industrial education, and following q comr!ete lndustrlal survey of the city, Alvin F. Dodd, secretary of the National So- clety For the Promotion of Industrial Educat1on and w. T. Bowden, special 1st in industrial education for the united States bureau of education presented the following statements: The necessity for vocational di- rection and guidance for children who are likely to early face the complexities of our modern industrial and com merclal life, obviously points to the r 0nnI nr the kind of experience which will give them some basis upon which an intel 1igent choice of a life career may be a made.
 If course of training is to be 11ormulated which will help boys to Ilnd themselves and enable them to make an intelligent choice of their work in the future it must be a varied one. What is needed is an organized framing in the practical arts which VIII include experiences from many fields of employment Such a plan should consist of a series of jobs. pro- Jects or enterprises, which in their ac- complishment will give to the boy an appreciative understanding Of funda-
 mental processes in the more import
 ant industries
 The foregoing statement covers in
 all essentials the conception of prevo-
 cat1onal education and it's possibilities as an aid to vocational guidance which has governed our procedures in the
 development of prevocational work in the schools of New Britain.
 We believe however, that all pub lie school education should be regard ed as essentially prevocational in character, whether it be academic in dustrial or commercial. Education at public expense cannot be justified up-
 on any other basis. There is no ex- cuse in democracy for type of eGu- cation that contemplates a non-pro- ductive life.
 There are at least three we'll de- | fined types of mind to be found 1 among the pupils in our Granlcar 1 school, i e., 7th and 8th grades. These may be roughly termed the motor type, the commercial type, the aca- dcniic type.
 We find there are at least three well defined groups of pupils when we consider the life purposes the ar1bi- tion the circumstances and the future who are to go into mechanical em- ployments, those who are to go into commercial life and those who are to take up the professional or semi-pro- fessional occupations.
 I've recognize also the fact that every boy is to be regarded as the po- fentiaI head of a family, and that every girl should be recognized as 8 potential home maker.
 We know that the psychic develop
 ment of children which so strongly | differentiates youth from children be- | gins to manifest itself to a marked de- | gree at about twelve and fourteen | years of age. This is the grammar l school age. This early adolescent pe- riod is characterized by great restless ness and in many pupils by the awak- HTing of thoughts, dreams and aspira- fions that concern the future life plans of the individual This is par ticularly true of the pupil who knows that family circumstances makes it necessary for him to leave school at the end of his grammar school course or before the completion of a full high school course.
 tTn view of this fact we believe .liat 4his is the proper time to set the in- saividual to thinking about the prob
 en of choosing a life work as a prob lem to be seriously faced and pre- pared for
 Commissioner Carris.
 Following Mr. Holmes in the dis russion of the Prevocational school l ns an aid to vocationa guidance, 1 Lewis H. Carris, assistant commits 1 Bfoner of education at Trenton, N. J., 1 gave half hours talk which met 1 with the close attention of his audi ence. He first spoke of the influence |