Opportunities for Vocational Education
NEWS AND COMMENTS.
An investigation has just been completed by the Public Education Association, which promises to be a great aid to the advocates of vocational training in this city. The Association has collected data in regard to vocational courses taught in all of the schools, public, private, and philanthropic, in the vicinity, and the results have just been published in a pamphlet under the title, “A Survey of Opportunities for Vocational Education in and near Philadelphia.” The scope of the investigation includes industrial, commercial, and professional education, and 180 institutions are covered by the survey. The material has been carefully classified and analyzed, and arranged in chart form, so that the student desiring information in regard to a particular course can at a glance compare the requirements, the tuition fees, and the time required, in the various institutions offering such a course.
A carefully arranged index at the back of the volume, lists over 250 subjects having a vocational bearing, taught in the institutions included, with references to the pages on which more detailed information regarding them may be found. This study, which was compiled by Miss Jane R. Harper, special investigator for the Public Education Association, represents the first attempt to bring together the great mass of information in regard to vocational education in Philadelphia, and presents in understandable form material which should be of the greatest help to parents and teachers, to vocational counselors, and to students seeking courses of training for their chosen Une of work. Philadelphia Board of Education assumes Administration of School Lunches. The School Lunch Committee of the Home and School League of Philadelphia disbanded in June after an existence of nearly eight years. During this period its work has been that of experimentation and demonstration. It has established lunches in the elementary schools of this city, administered them successfully, demonstrated that they can be self-supporting, and it has now issued a final report in which the results of this extended experiment are made available for use by others.
The School Lunch Committee has voluntarily transferred its activities to the public school authorities of this city. At the May meeting of the Board of Education the report of the committee was accepted, its recommendations adopted, and the superintendent of schools authorized to extend elementary lunch service immediately to twenty-five additional schools.
The committee has carried on its work and is now terminating it because it holds that the function of a privately supported organization is to experiment and demonstrate. It never can eventuate on a large scale and it should not if it could. The function of a publicly supported organization is to eventuate on a large scale. It can seldom experiment and it lacks freedom and flexibility in demonstration. The School Lunch Committee has experimented and demonstrated successfully. It is a source of profound satisfaction to its members that the public school system is now taking over its work, continuing it, and extending it. A College for Teachers at Johns Hopkins University.
Another step towards a teachers’ college in Baltimore was taken in the recent creation of the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education, by the Johns Hopkins University. This marks a partial fulfillment of hopes which the University has entertained for a number of years. As early as 1910, the University announced its desire of establishing a department for the higher training of teachers as an organic part of the University.
The curriculum leading to the new degree will be based on the College Courses for Teachers and the Summer Courses. The former, which were established in 1909, are conducted during the regular session in the afternoons and on Saturdays. The latter have been conducted since 1911. The new degree will be open to men and women on equal terms. The regulations concerning matriculation and the curriculum will be determined by a special advisory committee of the faculty. The title of director of these courses has been assigned to Professor Edward F. Buchner, who organized and has conducted both these branches of the University’s activities.
Pennsylvania Conference of Charities and Correction.
All persons interested in social welfare work in Pennsylvania are cordially invited to attend the state Conference of Charities and Correction at Scranton, October 21, 22, and 23, 1915. The program is of the best, and includes such able speakers as Hon. Thomas M. Osborne, of Sing Sing, N. Y., on Prisons; Miss Julia Lathrop, of the Federal Children’s Bureau, on Public Health; and Dr. William T. Healy of Chicago, and Judge Raymond MacNeille of Philadelphia, on Juvenile Court Work. For hotel accommodations and additional information, apply to Mr. Maurice Willows, assistant secretary of the local committee, 346 Adams Avenue, Scranton, Pa.
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