The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1922-03-28
Devoted the H..belde County Hish School
THE HUMBOLDT
Eaa Holloway Editor Blanche Coldsworthy Editor

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
By Alva L. Walker, Shop Instructor
Humboldt County High School
Winnemucca, Nevada
A few years ago the Smith-Hughes
bill was passed. This bill was an
outcome Of the governments at
tempt to select and classify trades
men for the army during the war.
The officials in charge Of this work
found very difficult task before
them. They found that the great
masses OF men presenting them
selves as skilled tradesmen were not
trained men at all, not even pas
SADLY proficient in the trade to which
they claimed to belong. Investiga-
ton brought forcibly to notice, the
already well known, but neglected
fact, that there were practically no
public schools in the country where
trade training was offered. Still
further probing proved to us that
over ten per cent of the boys be-
tween the ages of fourteen and
eighteen years were not going to
school because they wanted trade
training and could not get it. These
boys were being neglected. They
did not fit in the ordinary academic
high school course, were not in
clined to become professional men.
They wanted to enter some partic-
ular trade and the only place of
ifering training was the shops. At
that time the shop offered very poor
conditions under which a young fell
low must work in order to learn a
trade. About all he could hope to
learn was the use of tools of the
trade, methods used by old hands,
to. operate machines, in short he
learned nothing but the drudgery Of
the trade. The science, the mathe-
matics, the drawing and other sub
jects related to his trade, that pre-
pare a man for the bigger jobs,
were not learned in the shop.
Why, then, were we ignoring this
class Of boys? One of the most inn
portant groups, if properly trained,
that We could recongnize. At the
outbreak of the war, or at least
at the time Of our entrance into
It, this question was a very serious
one. Our country needed the SER
vices Of vast number of skilled
workmen from every trade. After
examining thousands Of men and
finding them sadly deficient, the
committee realized the desperate sit
uation and Immediately took steps
to relieve it.
The first step taken was to Sc
lect the most skilled tradesmen avail
able, send them through an intensive
course of teacher training, covering
a period of only six weeks. These
tradesmen after being trained to
teach others what they themselves
knew, were then sent out over the
country to shipyards, airplane fac
tories, munition plants and other
places where men were working. The
tradesmen In these places were divid-
ed into groups and each of these
groups placed under one or more Of
the above mentioned skilled men for
instruction in mathematics, science,
drafting and other special subjects.
This step was considered absolutely
necessary as proven by the fact that
the. instruction was given during
working hours, even tho production
was interfered with to q certain ex-
tent -
The second step taken by the COM
mittee was the suggestion of the
idea evolved in the Smith-Hughes
bill. A federal board was appoint
ed to draw up certain detailed pro-
visions, suggestions and regulations
for the encouragement and advance
ment Of Vocational Education" It
was found necessary to encourage
such education with federal finan-
cial aid, because the expense Of
most trade courses to the high
schools was considered, in those
dark ages, to be more than the re-
suit was worth.
This federal board established in
tensive teacher training classes and
invited men and women from all
vocations to attend and learn how
to teach their trade to others. The
only requirements were, that he or
she must have had at least five
years practical experience in the
trade and had received at least q
full high school education. This
made available a supply of practi-
cal, well trained teachers Of nearly