Weekly journal-miner., 1918-02-27
GOVERNMENTA|OS IN VOCATIONAL
 TRAINING
THE $3o,O0o APPROPRIATED BY CONGRESS IS MATCH ED IN AMOUNT BY THE STATE FOR GOOD OF ARIZONA BOYS.

The Smith-Hughes act which pass ed congress February l7, 1917, and the provisions of which were ac- cepted by the last legislature, provid- es Arizona with Sl5,000 for the year 1ol7-l9lS and will automatically in crease until 1926 when it will reach the permanent fund of S30000. These amounts must be matched dollar for dollar by the State. For the year loH-l9lS, therefore, there will be available for vocational education in
 This money will be used to develop in the schools the teaching of agri- culture, home economics, and the in dustrial trades. One-third of the fund will be devoted to training teachers so they may be equipped tc teach these subjects adequately.
 The Smith Hughes act is revolu. tionizing secondary school educa- ton. It is the result of many years of talk among educators and many years of experimenting with voca. tional education. It grew out of the combined recommendations of educa- tors and national organizations oi educators, and is decided departure from the attitude and treatment of vocational education that prevailed m our schools up to now.
 The test of vocational subject ac- cording to the Smith Hughes act is, will the pupil be able to find profit able employment at it." Tine object is no longer merely to train the hand but to provide the boy and the girl with a calling at which they can make a sufficient living. The convic- ton is also present that by concen- trating in the school on learning by doing, on practical work, there will be no sacrifice of mental training that is now provided by the so-called ''cul- tural subjects, not even the polish that is supposed to be reaped from the study of languages, history and literature.
 To acquire in the school sufficient training in a given vocation so as to be able to make profitable living i'm mediately thereafter, it will be neces- sary for the pupil to give, at least half of the school day to the group of practical subjects that bear on his chosen vocation. When he com pletes his school course there will be demand for his services and he will be able to step into job as train ed artisan.
 Nor does it suggest that the boy who leaves the High school trained in agriculture or as an artisan of | some kind, will have all other pro- ! fessional avenues closed to him. A boy with knowledge of agriculture or with training in the use of tools is as we'll fitted, if not better, to study i law, medicine, engineering or enter i the commercial field and make a success, as the other boy who has 1 taken the general course in which there was liberal amount of history languages, and literature.
 But the facts arc that most boys who leave the High school do not study law, medicine, or engineering but they enter blind-alley vacations 1 leading to no particular career. Many such boys apprentice out to learn the trades that they should have ! learned while at school \ goodly number drift from one field to anoth- CT and form the great class of un- i skilled employees, That now and then one of these untraincd High school graduates becomes a bank president or a captain of industry is true. But the Simth-Hughcs. act is thinking to provide for the many and is not considering the few.