INTRODUCTION OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PANEL

Mr. WHITE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator MORSE. Dr. Mobley, executive secretary of the American Vocational Association, has a group with him today:

Dr. Milo J. Peterson, president of the American Vocational Association; professor, Agricultural Education Department of the University of Minnesota;

Dr. William B. Logan, director of the Distributive Education Services, Ohio State University; and a member of the President's. Panel of Consultants on Vocational Education;

Dr. Burr D. Coe, director, Middlesex County Vocational Technical Schools, New Brunswick, N.J.;

Dr. C. W. Patrick, assistant superintendent of schools, San Diego Public Schools; president, San Diego junior colleges; president, National Council of Local Administrators of Vocational Education and Practical Arts, San Diego, Calif.;

Mr. Fred Eberle, acting State director of vocational education, State department of education, Charleston, W. Va.; and

Miss Catherine T. Dennis, State supervisor of home economics edu-: cation, State department of public instruction, Raleigh, N.C.

If there are others, Dr. Mobley, we certainly welcome them to participate in this panel.

Before I call on you, I want to say for the record that it is the opinion of the chairman of this subcommittee that much, much more needs to be done than is being done in the whole field of vocational education.

I understand that in some circles and some places, the phrase "vocational education" is almost an unacceptable word. But it is not with this chairman. This is particularly true, may I say, in connection with requests for foreign aid support for educational services abroad. They do not like to use the words "vocational education." They prefer the language "training for leadership."

Let me tell you what is needed in our foreign aid program. It is training for vocational education, training in developing the skills and the techniques which are so essential, I think, if we are going to bring these populations over to the side of economic freedom.

As an old teacher myself, I am greatly concerned about a group that has been described in these hearings as the dropout group or the "left-out" group. I do not care which phrase is used for definition purposes. We must do a much better job in our vocational education programs. It will be done under the leadership of such as we now have before this subcommittee, if you are supplied the funds with which to do it. That is the answer. It is not a lack of knowledge of the techniques or the training procedures. The Federal Government has not yet provided the assistance to the States necessary to do it.

I do not intend to make a speech. I only wanted to make this comment to you people for use as a background I hope that you will make such comment on it as you care to.

FEDERAL INTEREST IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

I believe in the field of vocational education, there is no doubt, no possible doubt about the Federal interest. The problem of automation in this country is not a State problem; it is not a city problem; it is a national problem.

We have been given some figures in the course of these hearings. I have used them before, but you ought to have your memories refreshed about them if you do not know of them, or have not thought about them recently.

At the present time, as the evidence so far shows, if we tried to supply the jobs necessary to take care of the loss of jobs through present-day automation, it would take 35,000 new jobs a week. Add to that the number of new jobs we need to take care of the population increase, it means a total of 60,000 jobs a week, new ones need to be provided. Let us add to that an undetermined number, but it runs into hundreds of thousands of people in this country who are underemployed today, that is, they have had certain training but they cannot get the jobs to fit the training. Given these three groups, we have a potential problem, in my opinion, within our population that can cause us not only great economic concern but that should cause us concern at almost every level of operation in this Republic of ours.

If there are a large number of dropouts, or left-outs, or unemployed who, because of lack of training, cannot get jobs, there is a potential for the creation of a dissident group in this country which can cause very serious trouble in connection with the whole operation of our American system.

Dr. Mobley, you have a biased friend as a chairman when you and your associates appear before this subcommittee this afternoon. In my judgment, I am about to listen to a group of educators who may very well have the greatest offering to present to the American people at the national level to meet the problems of unemployment, automation, and underemployment. You should know that you are not going to be limited to statements that you make here today.

I want you to file for this record any supplemental statements before we close this record, which will be 2 weeks after June 27, that you care to after you have had an opportunity to look at this record as a whole. So far as this chairman is concerned, I want to see, and I shall so urge, that the legislation emerging from this subcommittee shall contain the strongest sections on Federal aid to vocational education that has yet been reported from this subcommittee.

My able counsel suggests that I also point out that many countries with food problems would be glad to have the farm problem of our overproduction. Vocational agricultural education has abundantly demonstrated its effectiveness. It is certainly a very much needed part of our adult education program in this country, and one we need to expand in connection with our oversea education program as well. So much for my gratuitous advice to a group of experts. I want you to know my attention and the record is now at your disposal to fill in accordance with your own judgment.

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STATEMENTS OF M. D. MOBLEY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, AMERICAN VOCATIONAL ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.; MILO J. PETERSON, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN VOCATIONAL ASSOCIATION, PROFESSOR, AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, ST. PAUL, MINN.; WILLIAM B. LOGAN, DIRECTOR, DISTRIBUTIVE EDUCATION SERVICES, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, OHIO, MEMBER, PRESIDENT'S PANEL OF CONSULTANTS ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION; BURR D. COE, DIRECTOR, MIDDLESEX COUNTY VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.; C. W. PATRICK, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, SAN DIEGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRESIDENT, SAN DIEGO JUNIOR COLLEGES, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATORS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICAL ARTS, SAN DIEGO, CALIF.; FRED EBERLE, ACTING STATE DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, CHARLESTON, W. VA.; MISS CATHERINE T. DENNIS, STATE SUPERVISOR OF HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION, STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, RALEIGH, N.C.

Dr. MOBLEY. Dr. Peterson.

Dr. PETERSON. Mr. Chairman, my name is Milo Peterson. I am president of the American Vocational Association, a professional organization with 57 years of service to vocational education. We represent a membership of over 30,000 vocational teachers, teacher educators, supervisors, and administrators. Our concern is centered in the provision of unrestricted opportunity for vocational and technical education of the highest quality.

Our efforts are primarily dedicated to the service of 80 percent of the students presently in elementary and secondary schools who will not complete the baccalaureate degree. We are also intimately concerned with upgrading the operational and managerial efficiency of adults who are established in an occupation and with those who need retraining to qualify for gainful employment in an expanding and dynamic economy. If we have dollar signs in our eyes it is because we are convinced that those who are not vocationally incompetent are, to that degree, incapable of contributing to their community, State, or Nation.

Permit me to express my sincere gratitude to the subcommittee for this opportunity to make known our views on the legislation you have under consideration. In this time of decision we sincerely appreciate your efforts to cooperatively shape, rather than submit, to the future. Therefore, on behalf of my colleagues who will make statements to you, I express our thanks.

I hope you will permit us the courtesy of presenting our statements prior to the submission of questions. In this way we may save your time and make more helpful our brief appearance before you.

May I say in passing that this is only the second time I have made an appearance before a congressional committee and I plead for your indulgence if I exhibit qualities of an amateur.

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Senator MORSE. It is not too different here from a faculty meeting. This is only a seminar.

Dr. PETERSON. Vocational education in America has served the Nation well through the public community schools. To be sure, we have fallen short of our goals in many cases, but this was a function of limited resources rather than limited dedication.

REVIEW OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Permit me to review briefly the assistance to vocational programs in the several States presently provided under existing laws.

Under the Smith-Hughes (Public Law 347, 64th Cong.) and GeorgeBarden (Public Law 586, 79th Cong.) Acts are provided total appropriations and authorizations of $57 million.

The total Federal assistance under Smith-Hughes and GeorgeBarden Acts amounts to about: $3.5 million for distributive occupations; $8.9 million for home economics; $31 million for trade and industrial programs; (includes $5 million for practical nurse training and $15 million under title VIII of NDEA for training highly skilled technicians); and $13 million for agricultural education (the $13 million for agricultural education may be compared with the more than $70 million of Federal funds being made available annually to the Agricultural Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.)

Existing vocational education acts are just as sound today as they were when enacted into law. They should not be repealed or replaced. They have charted the way for more equitable educational opportunity and created a framework and foundation for the future.

Under existing legislation the States have built a system of teamwork and cooperation that has stood the test of time. Vocational educators have developed an esprit de corps and morale unmatched elsewhere in education. High standards of teacher education and certification requirements reflecting the essential specialized competence; State leadership through the establishment and support of supervisors in the various fields of services; travel and subsistence for teachers enabling them to more readily participate in professional improvement; stability and status in State departments of educationall these and other benefits to those dependent on vocational education of a high order have been made possible through congressional action.

WHAT IS NEEDED

What is needed now is new legislation that will strengthen and improve the quality of vocational education and expand vocational education opportunities in the Nation. With the excellent relationships and efficient know-how that have been established vocational education is ready, indeed overdue, for further development and expansion. This is essential if the minimum economic needs of our increasing population are to be met. We need adequate support in order that we may move forward in all phases of vocational and technical education. The world of work is dynamic, it is changing, and it grows more complex. There is more need for more vocational education for more

The need is expressed in dramatic fashion in the want ads of our daily papers. I have here a page from the St. Paul Pioneer Press for May 19, 1963. On these pages and in other similar journals are listed calls for carpenters, cooks, machinists, draftsmen, machinist maintenance, milling supervisors, IBM operators, dairy test supervisors, bookkeepers, auto body men, press equipment operation; in fact, the whole gamut of occupations from butcher to baker to candlestick maker of nursery rhyme fame, including many occupations unheard of a few years back.

Mr. Chairman, it is obvious that technological advance and educational advance are partners in progress. Vocational education has always strived to serve those with a talent for useful work in the home, at the office, on the farm, in the factory or store and in the myriad industries and occupations in our national commerce. That we have not done as much as we should in no way suggests that we are unaware of the needs. One need only to consider the almost frightening prospect that 80 percent of those presently enrolled in our elementary and secondary schools will not complete a baccalaureate degree to envision the magnitude of the task of vocational training.

Twenty-nine million people will be added to the labor force of the Nation during this decade. Without training in modern technology their prospects are dim indeed. It is completely understandable that young people, lacking in the training necessary for employment, turn to delinquency and violence. There is no simple answer to the problem, and certainly no single answer, but unless our total effort is undergirded with a comprehensive program of education for the world of work. I fear all other moves are stopgaps.

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS

Mr. Chairman, we are not presently tooled up to handle the task ahead. It cannot be done by shifting present funds from one program to another. Robbing Peter to pay Paul does not improve the average. In a six-State survey conducted by the President's Panel of Consultants on Vocational Education, it was found that no category of federally reimbursed vocational education was found in even half of the schools and two categories were found in less than 10 percent of the schools. It is to be expected therefore that all too few workers or entrepreneurs prepare themselves for their place in the world's work through vocational education. According to the President's panel, the ratio of students enrolled in vocational courses in 1955 to those employed in 1961 ranged from 10 to 100 at best to 2 out of 444 at the other extreme.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN MINNESOTA

This situation of limited offerings in all phases of vocational education places tremendous pressure on the limited facilities available to students. In my home State of Minnesota, for example, where vocational education has a long history, the Minneapolis Vocational School runs practically around the clock and still cannot meet the demand.

This school, under the capable direction of Mr. Raymond Nord, opens its doors at 7 a.m. and continues until 3:30 a.m. the next morn