of uncertainty, it is possible to recognize various groupings of capacity, and it should be possible measurably to predict the future educational career of a large majority of children after they have reached the age of twelve. There will be those who probably cannot finish the elementary course; those who will have no sufficient capacity to enter or stay in high school; those who have not the qualities for business; those who have no interest in manual art, etc.

b) Sufficient attention has not yet been given to the conditions under which the economic status of the family affect the educational careers of children after the age of fourteen. The majority of the people of the cities are wage earners; the family income is not large; to keep a child in the high school costs the family from $200 a year up; and if there are several children, the pressure to have the older ones relieve the burden is very great. It is well known that among manufacturing peoples a very large proportion of the children enter employment early. This does not preclude the fact that often a boy or girl of exceptional capacity for school work will be kept at school at considerable sacrifice by the parents if it clearly appears that such sacrifice means ultimately the marked success of the child; but these cases are not numerous. It is not in evidence that the school authorities have studied, in connection with the large withdrawal from school at the age of fourteen and during the early years of the high-school period, the economic condition of those who thus withdraw. Undoubtedly large classes could be found in which such withdrawal is a necessity, quite apart from the question of the ability of the pupil. It is highly probable that at the age of twelve or fourteen it will be found that a sufficient number of children are obliged to prepare for early entrance into industry to justify consideration of their special educational needs. At any rate this should be regarded as a basis for group differentiation of opportunities.

c) Present educational practice differentiates between boys and girls in the provision of manual and domestic work in view of their different educational destinations. In a few cities special high-school preparatory classes exist for children who, at the age of twelve, obviously are qualified and intended for high-school work. In reform schools and various other types of special schools, children at the age of twelve or later receive a kind of education suited to their probable future needs. In the American secondary schools as now organized some opportunities for specialization are offered to those who wish to take up commercial work, to prepare for college, etc. But in the main, American education, unlike that of Europe, refuses largely to take account of the probable educational destination of its pupils, especially those under sixteen years of age. The reason for this exists in the general tradition of the democratic character of American education, but it actually operates, as we believe, to render such education undemocratic. At first it would appear that differentiation of education according to educational destination could only affect vocational training; but a study of the conditions of life will show that the cultural and social needs of varying groups must make different demands

upon the kind of cultural and social training given. The cultural and social training of children who must enter into industry at fifteen should for the years from twelve to fourteen be in many respects different from that of those who are probably to have a high-school and college education. Furthermore, there are excellent reasons for believing that cultural and social training should be in some degree correlated with vocational training, to the end that each may be most effective. But this is impracticable unless the educational system provides for several possible goals and organizing education for youth from twelve to sixteen.

THE BEGINNINGS OF DIFFERENTIATION

With few exceptions, American elementary education assumes uniformity of course for all children thru the eighth grade or approximately thru the fourteenth year. Nowhere else in the world do we find similar practice. But it is well known that much more than a majority of the children in the public schools either do not complete the eight grades or do not go beyond them; and all of these may be assumed to quit school as soon as the law allows. Because during the last two grades no specialization has been permitted it has proven difficult to make anything of the vocational subjects like commercial arithmetic, accounts, manual training, and domestic arts that have been introduced; nor, on the other hand, has it been practicable to make the beginnings of algebra, geometry, and foreign languages for those children obviously destined for a secondary education. The widespread demand for a six-years' high-school course indicates a call for earlier differentiation than is now possible. European practice in all countries makes provision for extensive differentiation at twelve or earlier. There can be hardly any question but that, by means of special courses, large numbers of those who cannot complete the grade work in our city schools could be better accomodated than at present. The time is ripe to recognize the following facts: (a) Secondary education should involve differentiation according to educational need, and this begins to manifest itself earlier than the traditions of American education have established; in fact, after the sixth grade, there should be allowed some opportunity for differentiation; (b) Whether or no we choose to call all of the courses thenceforward followed secondary or not, they should all be regarded as equal in the sense that each, for the class of children adapted to it, offers a first-class education, even tho some of these courses must terminate at the time when the pupils average fourteen.

THE CHARACTER OF DIFFERENTIATED COURSES

Obviously there must be strict limits to differentiation of courses in the upper grades of the elementary school and the earlier years of the high school, owing to administrative necessities; but it is clear that some account must henceforth be taken of vocational work as a factor in some of these courses. Opportunities for vocational training are becoming increasingly difficult in other channels of life than the schools; these must realize their added

responsibilities. We may not here enter into discussion of the kind or degree of vocational training possible for children from twelve to sixteen. We may even assume for the present that specialized-trades training, or other kind designed to produce a considerable degree of immediate fitness for any given vocation is impracticable; but, on the other hand, we have abundant experience to prove that a somewhat general form of vocational training along several different lines is an entirely feasible thing. It is possible to begin at the seventh grade and give, along with an ordinary program of studies, considerable special training in commercial subjects; or in the use of tools, as found in the industrial arts; or in agricultural arts; or yet again, in the household arts for girls. Such training may be made very concrete; it may utilize actual vocational practices and economies; and it should give a large amount of habituation, intelligence, and ideals which, when specialized training comes later, will form a satisfactory background for the latter.

But again it must not be assumed that such vocational courses should be the only ones found in the program; we are, assuming that they are offered simply for those who most incline towards them or have most need of them. In the elementary school, and the high school as well, should be found courses ministering exclusively to cultural ends. No more fundamental mistake has been made in the elementary school than in prescribing manual training for all children alike, once it has been introduced, and before its educational value had been fully ascertained. Vastly better would it have been to have established good courses in manual training, even to be taken four or six hours a week, for those who especially cared for that work. It would then have had some vital educational and vocational significance.

CONDITIONS OF ADMINISTRATION

Under ideal conditions the execution of the above program would require the general recognition of a six-years' high school and the abandonment of the last two grades of the present elementary course. Pupils completing the sixth grade, or otherwise qualified, would find open to them several courses so arranged that it would be possible for those probably quitting school at fourteen to receive in their remaining two years a maximum of preparation, but also permitting those who could look forward to a considerable secondary school and college career to make suitable beginnings for that. To a considerable extent all these courses would involve identical work in certain subjects, as English, history, and geography, the differentiation taking the form. of alternative groups of remaining subjects, as (a) foreign languages and mathematics of secondary-school type; (b) natural science, music, art appreciation, etc.; (c) commercial subjects; (d) agricultural subjects (in the right environment to give these a true vocational significance); (e) industrial arts, perhaps differentiated according to locality and dominant types of adjacent industry; and ( household arts. It should not prove a difficult matter to adjust these courses so that pupils leaving at fourteen would have received

considerable profit, while for those who stay until sixteen a considerably more extensive development would be possible.

But, in case the six-years' high-school course appear too radical, it should be evident that by a slight differentiation of courses in the last two grades of the elementary school, that remaining just as it is, and the departmentalizing of some of the work, almost the same results could be accomplished. In some large cities these grades now assemble in separate buildings, the schools being called intermediate; and American education is not at all unfamiliar with departmental work and specialized teachers in the upper grades. If we increase and enrich the manual training offered, relating it closely to familiar types of production, and making it possible for certain classes of pupils to substitute something else for it, as foreign languages in the one case, or commercial subjects in the other, we shall have the proposed program in its essence. Already the beginnings of this are found in cities like Baltimore that maintain special high-school preparatory classes; and in those special classes for defective and delinquents found in some cities where specialized programs of study are prepared to serve particular ends in the training of children that do not fit the ordinary program.

Similarly, it would not be at all impracticable nor administratively difficult to provide in our large city high schools, in addition to the college-preparatory courses now maintained, at least one general culture course especially designed for children who will leave at sixteen; and other courses of a more vocational character, also of two years in length, embracing the lines mentioned above.

Finally, let it not be said that any such program as that contemplated above requires any sacrifice of the education which makes for culture or for effective citizenship. Rather I believe it will promote it. We too often forget the very meager degree of cultural education now realized for the majority of our pupils; we forget that one or two hours a day of the right kind of study by pupils interested in their education because it is vital to their needs may give much more of culture and civic training than we accomplish at present. We sometimes forget that with certain types of pupils and under certain social conditions the more effort we expend, the less we get in the way of educational result. We have not yet learned all the lessons of casting the bread of our educational efforts on the current of contemporary life, with its possibilities of larger returns.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT HAS EXERTED A PRE-EMINENT
INFLUENCE IN SOCIAL PROGRESS

S. CHESTER PARKER, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, MIAMI UNIVERSITY
OXFORD, OHIO

I realize that it is not possible to produce final proof of this thesis owing to the undeveloped condition of the social sciences. At the same time, it is desirable to examine the problem sufficiently to appreciate the fundamental part played by industrial development. There is a strong tendency to depreci

ate the value of industrial development in favor of political, intellectual, aesthetic, literary and religious influences. I believe that a study of the question will provide a scientific basis for a reconstruction of our ideas of values, and a consequent reconstruction of our educational practices.

Before proceeding with the discussion proper, it is necessary to determine the meaning of certain terms. In the first place, what do we mean by industrial? Realizing that the term is ordinarily used in several senses, I shall here use the word industrial to designate those activities of mankind which aim at practical control and utilization of the materials and forces of nonhuman nature. Industrial designates man's practical efforts to secure food and shelter, to domesticate animals, to raise and use plants, to obtain minerals and transform them, to master and utilize the forces of wind, water, steam, electricity, etc. It includes a vast variety of activities, from the simple process of the hunter to the most elaborate constructions of the mechanical and electrical engineer. It includes such inventions and mechanical devices as the phonograph, moving pictures, electrical machinery, the steam engine, the cotton gin, gunpowder, and the printing press. All of these are examples of man's practical mastery and utilization of the materials and forces of nonhuman nature. The aim of this paper is to show how fundamentally these have influenced human life.

The place of industries in history. From the historical point of view, our thesis takes the following form. Of the manifold activities of human beings those classified as industrial have, in the long run, played a more important. part in bringing about transformations in social structure than have any other class of activities. In order to avoid confusion in thinking, I shall first state what this thesis does not mean:

1. It does not exclude the extensive influence of other than industrial activities; in fact it implies such influence.

2. It does not maintain that the world would be at all like it is if the other activities had not existed.

3. It does not maintain that industrial activities have exerted a pre-eminent influence in every case, but only in the long run.

4. In short, it does not maintain that industrial activities constitute all of life, but that they constitute a large part of it and profoundly influence the rest.

As illustrations of the part played by the industrial factor in history I shall call your attention to some very familiar examples of its influence, begining with those nearest home and proceeding to the more remote. As I am not an authority I shall mention the authors upon whom I depend.

Beginning with the United States the example that immediately suggests itself is the influence of the invention of the cotton gin and cotton-working machinery. Channing says:

If the cotton gin had never been invented, it is not unlikely that slavery would have been peaceably abolished in the South in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, if slavery had been profitable over a larger area of the United States, that nstitution might have become so firmly established, it could not have been overturned.