clearly see that the schools must give the boys and girls vocational training or turn them loose in the world unable to cope with its problems.

TOPICS FOR REPORT AND INVESTIGATION

1. Vocational guidance in the United States.

2. Vocational education in the United States.

3. The economic factor in civilization and its relation to education. 4. The Gary school system.

FURTHER READINGS

Bloomfield, Meyer. The Vocational Guidance of Youth. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Brewster, Edwin Tenney. Vocational Guidance for the Professions. Rand McNally & Co.

Cubberley, E. P. Changing Conception of Education. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Dickson, Marguerite Stockman. Vocational Training for Girls. Rand McNally & Co.

Gillette, John M. Vocational Education. American Book Co. Lewis, William D. Democracy's High School. Houghton Mifflin Co. Puffer, J. Adams. Vocational Guidance-The Teacher as a Counse

lor. Rand McNally & Co.

Snedden, David. The Problem of Vocational Education. Houghton

Mifflin Co.

Weeks, Ruth Mary. The People's School. Houghton Mifflin Co.

W

CHAPTER VIII

AVOCATIONAL EDUCATION

ESTERN civilization has reflected four purposes

of education. They are usually designated as the ends or aims of education. One of these aims is the perfection of character and implies the harmonious development of all those attributes that contribute to individual well-being and happiness. Another is culture, and by the term we mean a knowledge of the social, literary, and aesthetic heritage of the race, without reference to the use or application of this knowledge to particular ends. Discipline, or the training of the mental faculties without reference to special functioning processes, is another aim that has been widely recognized in education. Vocational training is the fourth end of education and implies special training for a definite, particular purpose. All of these are clearly understood by the educator and are given recognition throughout our system of schools.

The object of this chapter is to show that another aim of education should find a place in the educational thought of the times. Some have made it synonymous with culture. Others have assumed it to be an extension of the cultural ideal of education and a complement to vocational education. It makes large use of the disciplinary idea of education and it is designed to get its compelling force from the character-product of educational accomplishment. It may be designated as avocational education. A reference to the dictionary shows that avocation means "the calling away or withdrawal of a person from an employment," or "a milder or less important occupation, a by-work." Vocation as

contrasted with avocation means "employment, occupation, business, trade, professional and mechanical occupations" that may be pursued as a means of livelihood. The word "avocation" is generally used to designate those social activities that are not performed as a part of a regular or economic employment. Such tasks are usually performed without the expectation of financial reward. It is not to be inferred, however, that all avocational activities are of this nature. There are conditions under which men perform avocational tasks purely through economic motives, and the work performed may not contribute directly to social welfare. Such activities, however, are not under consideration in this discussion. The problem of avocational education grows out of the social significance of human effort. Such activities are not to be regarded as of less importance than economic occupations. It is a "by-work" only in the sense that it is not vocational. It is not necessarily even a byproduct of vocational effort. It may have no connection whatever with the routine occupations of life.

THE JUSTIFICATION FOR AVOCATIONAL EDUCATION Two facts underlie this new aim in education. In the first place, society has greatly increased in complexity in modern times. In the second place, the opportunity for leisure and the number of people who will enjoy its blessings have greatly multiplied under changing political, economic, and social conditions. These are significant facts and they represent correlative values. With the increasing complexity of the social order have come new demands upon social effort. The energies released by the change in economic demands are now available for social use. In a simpler social order the requirements of society could be met in an incidental way without

the need for special training. This is no longer possible. We are now teaching that independent states and distinct nationalities have the right of self-determination with reference to their internal organization. The acceptance of this doctrine calls into action a trained citizenship. Every independent nation is constantly being confronted with complicated economic and social problems that have close interrelations with political action. The application of social justice to many concrete situations requires a high order of intelligence and lofty standards of ethics. Family relations, religious activities, and aesthetic influences present endless problems of great complexity that demand the consideration of experts specially trained to deal with particular aspects of these problems. It is to be observed, of course, that many of these problems have created a demand for vocational effort for which special training has been provided, but many others are still to receive attention by unpaid workers with a passion for social service. These conditions compel us to recognize the necessity for a new type of educational training. The hope of sustaining a progressive society is in the recognition of the necessity of supplementing existing educational courses with courses that will meet the needs of avocational requirements.

The importance of special training for political life is well presented by Professor Walter Robison Smith. He says:

Economic intelligence is the outgrowth of training for vocational life, social intelligence of training for social life, and cultural intelligence of training for avocational life. These three phases of intelligence form the best foundation on which to build political intelligence. All political action, except that dealing with the mere structure and outer form of government, demands a knowledge of one of the other phases of life. It remains, however, for the State

to protect itself by guaranteeing that each citizen, and particularly each voter, shall gain a knowledge of his responsibilities to the Government, and the methods of exercising those responsibilities, and that he develop a proper attitude toward its varied activities. The good citizen must not only obey the law; he must help to make and enforce it. Consequently explicit training is required along political as well as along the other lines.1

The good citizen must do much more than obey the law or help make or enforce it. In fact, the best test of good citizenship is revealed in those aspects of life in no way connected with the law enforcement. The sense of community responsibility is the clearest test of loyal citizenship.

THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE LEISURE CLASS

Employment and achievement in human society are largely promoted through the opportunity and use of leisure. Groups of workers whose opportunities for leisure are shut out by long hours of economic employment do not and cannot contribute substantially to social welfare.

The leisure class [says Professor Smith] continues to progress only as it elevates avocational interests into vocational accomplishment. A large share of the orators, painters, writers, statesmen, musicians, inventors, scientists, and philosophers who have made original contributions to society have done so by virtue of serious work along avocational lines. Many of them, including such men as Darwin, Spencer, Bismarck, Gladstone, and Roosevelt, have had no vocations, but others, such as college professors, physicianscientists, and lawyer-statesmen, have carried on vocational activities at the time they were making their avocational contributions. Inventors, artists, and littérateurs often do their best work for little pay and make their living by more ephemeral labors. As leisure is spread through the masses under modern improved conditions, avocations that are culturally useful must be given them and they must be inspired to employ them in both self-improvement and community betterment.2

1 An Introduction to Educational Sociology, pp. 151-152. 20p. cit., p. 149.