On Industrial Education
1977; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 7; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/03626784.1977.11076204
ISSN1467-873X
Autores Tópico(s)Education Systems and Policy
ResumoThe habitual American attitude towards public education is, to say the least, paradoxical. Belief in publicly supported education is the most vital article of the average citizen's creed. Money devoted to educational purposes makes the largest item in the budget, and payment of taxes for school purposes is accompanied with the least amount of grumbling. The man who ridicules his legislature, who is suspicious of his judiciary and openly flouts his police system, is enthusiastic about public education. But the connection of the public with its schools ends for the most part with their support. There is next to no provision for public control, and that little is generally felt to be a nuisance when it extends its activities beyond the financial support of the schools under its nominal charge. The direction of educational policy is no part of statesmanship; the divorce of school from politics-which presumably means matters of public policy-is thought to represent the ideal state of things. Educators have reciprocated by taking an astonishingly slight interest in the public functions attached to their own work. Social settlements, amateur philanthropists and voluntary associations, rather than professional educators, have agitated the questions of child labor and juvenile crime, of adequate recreative facilities and the wider use of the school plant, and even of preparation for making a livelihood. That our laissez passer methods have worked as well as they have indicates a certain soundness in our social life, as well as at least a temporary adaptation to our needs. That these methods will work as well in the future may be doubted. The formation by Congress of a Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education, composed of two Senators, two
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